Special Needs and Disability Policy
Our setting aims to have regard to the DFE and DOH Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years, issued in October 2014, to provide welcome and appropriate learning opportunities, for all children.
- Children with special needs, like all other children, are admitted to the setting after
consultation between parents, setting leader and key person.
- Our system of observation and record keeping, which operates in conjunction with parents,
enables us to monitor children’s needs and progress on an individual basis.
- Our key person system ensures that each adult is especially responsible for, and close to, just
eight or nine children, so each child receives plenty of adult time and attention.
- We work in liaison with staff outside the group, including therapists, health visitors,
psychologists, social workers, paediatricians, and Portage workers, to meet children’s specific
needs.
- Our staff attend whenever possible in-service training on special needs arranged by the Early
Years Alliance and other professional bodies.
Parents hold key information and have a critical role to play in their children’s education. They have unique strengths, knowledge and experience to contribute to the shared view of a child’s needs and the best ways of supporting them. We acknowledge this and will liaise with them at all times.
Children, who are capable of forming views, have a right to receive and make known information, to express an opinion and to have that opinion taken into account in any matters affecting them. The views of the child should be given due weight according to the age, maturity and capability of the child. To this end we will endeavour to provide child preferred learning activities or group size.