Early Years Area SENCO, Advisory Teachers and Inclusion Support

Advisory Teachers and Inclusion Support Workers are part of the Early Years quality and inclusion team.

The Early Years Quality and Inclusion team provide advice and guidance to Early Years providers, such as nurseries and child minders to help them provide appropriate learning opportunities for all children including those who have been identified as needing extra support.

When settings request the team’s input an initial discussion takes place. This is followed by a Team Around the Child (TAC) meeting with parents /carers to discuss the level of support that may be needed to help the child to progress with regard to their learning and development. This may include strategies, interventions and resources.

Where additional support or training is needed the area SENCO or one of our Early Years Inclusion Support Workers may also go in to a setting to model strategies and support staff.

The team works in partnership with other professionals, including Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Occupational therapists, Educational Psychologists, Health Visitors and Paediatricians.

During meetings any future support your child may need will be discussed; this might include support when they move onto school. Where a child will need additional support, a Person Centred Planning (PCP) meeting may be organised. For some children, this process may lead to submitting a request for statutory assessment.

Assess - Early identification of concerns 

• Use ‘Success from the Start’ Learning Chart or other assessment tool to record the child’s skills – what they can do consistently.
• Analyse data gathered to evidence concerns.
• Use 2-Year Progress Check information.
• Compare child’s information against what is expected for a typically developing child of the same age.
• If a child’s development is below what is expected further investigation may be needed.
• Contact the Area SENCO for advice regarding next steps and actions to take.
• If it is agreed that the child needs SEN support, begin to complete a Chronology of Action sheet.
  This will be used to evidence support given and is crucial in the long term planning for the child’s education.
• If required use ‘Success from the Start Additional Steps’ Learning Chart to provide a more detailed picture.

Plan - Next steps and interventions

• Be clear about what the child can do and use this information as the baseline/starting point
• In partnership with Parents discuss what steps can be taken to support the child develop their skills in the three prime areas of learning and development.
• These areas can then be broken down into small, achievable steps and documented on a Next Steps and Intervention sheet.
• Interventions may include visual support, behaviour strategies, behaviour change charts and/or ‘Hanen’ strategies.
• Ensure that everybody working with the child is aware of the interventions and how they are to be implemented.

Do – Implement planned actions

• The agreed planned ‘next steps’ and interventions should be implemented effectively and consistently each time the child attends - the more practice they have the sooner they will learn.
• Practitioners should record the child’s responses to the ‘next steps’ and interventions – this can be done using postits, charts or setting’s own recording system.
• Practitioners should ensure the SfS Learning Chart or equivalent learning data is kept up to date along with the ‘Success from the Start Additional Steps’ Learning Chart and Termly Summary sheets completed.

Review – Monitoring the child’s progress

• SENCO, Parents and Key Person should review and evaluate all the ‘next steps’ and interventions within 12 weeks of them being set.
• Consider all the data gathered on the child’s progress including the child’s ‘Success from the Start’ Learning Chart, the ‘Success from the Start Additional Steps’ Learning Chart and Termly Summary sheet this will inform you of the progress that the child has made and serve as evidence of your interventions.
• This process can be carried out with the support of your Area SENCO.
• The Key Person should keep the parents updated with the child’s progress.

If practitioners have any concerns or issues arise during this Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycle they should contact their Area SENCO