Rochester Preschool provides an environment in which all children, irrespective of their ability, are supported to reach their full potential. 

Working to the DCSF Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, our key aims are as follows:

• to include all children in our provision (Equality Act 2010).
• to provide practitioners to help support children and their families with special educational needs / disabilities.
• to identify the specific needs of children with special educational needs/disabilities and support their needs.
• to work in partnership with parents and other agencies in meeting children’s individual needs
• to monitor and review our practice and provision and if necessary make adjustments where we are able to.

Policy and procedure

To ensure that the above aims are fulfilled, Rochester Preschool has developed the following Inclusions Policy and procedure regarding children who have special educational needs/disabilities, to which it is committed:

• We have designated members of staff to serve as Special Educational Needs Coordinator and a Behaviour coordinator.

Becky Plumb is SENCO / Lisa Howes is Behavioural coordinator.  

• We ensure that the provision for children with special educational needs/disabilities is the responsibility of everyone at preschool based on the guidance of the SENCO. 
• We ensure that our inclusive admissions practice ensures equality of access and opportunity. (Please refer to Our Admission Policy).
• We ensure that our physical environment can be adapted to support a child with a disability if we are able to.
• We work closely with parents/carers of children with special education needs/disabilities or challenging behaviour to maintain a positive partnership with them. (Please refer to our Behaviour Policy).
• We ensure that parents/carers are informed at all stages of the assessment planning, provision and review of their children’s education and learning.
• We will work alongside speech and language therapists when relevant to our provision of care to children with special educational needs/disabilities. 
• We liaise with other professionals involved with children with special educational needs.
• We provide a broad and balanced curriculum to meet individual needs and abilities.
• We use a system of planning, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reviewing Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) for children with special educational needs/disabilities. These SMART targets will be based on targets set by other professionals also supporting the child. 
• We provide resources to implement our special educational needs/disability policy.
• We ensure the privacy of children with special educational needs/disabilities when intimate care is being provided.
• We provide in-house training for staff and volunteers.
• We ensure the effectiveness of our special educational needs/disability provision by collecting information from a range of sources eg IEP reviews, staff and management meetings, parental and external agencies views and inspections.

It is the duty of the preschool to carry out our statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for children’s special educational needs.  The Code of Practice recommends that the setting should adopt a graduated approach to assessment through Early Years Action and Early Years Action Plus.  Good practice of working together with parents, and the observation and monitoring of children’s individual progress, will identify any child with special educational needs.  The SENCO will work alongside parents to assess the child’s strengths and plan for future support. The SENCO will ensure that appropriate records are kept according to the Code of Practice.