OUR SEND LOCAL OFFER

How does Imagination Preschool know if your child requires extra support?

When your child first starts at our preschool, they will be assigned a key educator whose role will be to develop a close relationship with both you and your child, so that trust is established and you and your child feel secure with staff and the new environment. As part of our settling in period, we carry out a six week “baseline assessment” using the EYFS Framework, Early Years Outcomes and ECAT (Every Child a Talker) assessment tools. Your key educator will carry out regular observations to track where we think your child’s development stage is within the prime areas of learning. We will also request a copy of your child’s two-year-old health check report. If your child has not had a two-year-old health check, we will advise you to schedule an appointment as soon as possible with your health visitor.

If the key educator identifies that extra support is possibly required, they will discuss this with you and also seek the advice of the preschool SENDCO (Special Education Needsand Disability Co Coordinator). The SENDCO, with your consent, may also need to liaise with other outside professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists, Wandsworth Early Years Inclusion Team, the Children Centre and your Health Visitor so that we can implement the best strategies to support your child. The SENDCO will then use a joint approach, collaborating with parents, key educator and outside professionals to oversee and ensure that these targets and strategies are implemented.

What should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs and who do I need to contact? 

Talk to us! We are here to support you and your child in any way we can. Early intervention improves and enhances children with additional needs, increasing their ability to integrate in future mainstream activities. Your child's key educator is your first line of contact, who will be supported by their Early Years Teacher, Preschool Manager or SENDCO. There is also staff board in our entrance with our staff photos so that you know the names and job roles of each member of our team. Your child's key educator, together with the SENDCO will be able to signpost you to other professionals who can offer support and advice. We can also make a referral for specialist help with your permission.

How will Imagination Preschool staff support my child?

We have a robust settling in period which includes a home visit. Parents are invited for a “stay and play” session over a period of time to make their child feel secure in their new environment.  During the settling period, you will meet your key educator, who will be the person that supports your child’s day-to-day care, and also carry out observations and assessments that help us track your child’s current stage of development and what the next steps for their learning would be. During the settling in period, there is an exchange of information between parents and the key educator to help us build up a profile on your child. We use a child centred model where we put your child at the centre of our planning and strategies.  This is an effective way of ensuring that your child has the best possible chance of developing at their own rate.  This unstructured style of learning gives your child freedom to move around our setting and engage with activities that are of most interest to them allowing them to make their own decisions and choices. This type of freedom can boost their self-esteem and confidence and can be incredibly motivating to children in comparison to being “forced” to take part in an activity that doesn’t interest them. Your key educator can then use the interests of your child to plan activities covering the seven prime areas of learning. The SENDCO will work closely with the key educator to differentiate resources, experiences and activities to support your child and their development. They will provide you with strategies to implement in the home so that the learning is consistent between home and the preschool setting.  We ensure our staff go on all the relevant training courses to keep their skills relevant and up to date so that they can have more impact when delivering strategies. Our SENDCO has a training accreditation in Special Education Needs and Disability and regularly reviews our SEND and Inclusion policies to quality assure our SEND practice

How will Imagination Preschool regularly review how well the needs of my child are met?

The SENDCO will produce a SEND support plan and discuss with you on the targets being set for your child.  These targets use the small steps approach and are carried out daily by your key educator. They will use OWL technique (Observation Wait and Listen) whilst carrying out these activity targets. The SENDCO will then review the success of these targets every 6 weeks with you and the key educator. This review provides the opportunity to share information and updates about your child, how your child has progressed or what new challenges are being faced. This information will allow the SENCO to review strategies and revise if necessary.

How will Imagination Preschool ensure I am included in my child’s curriculum?

Ultimately, you know your child the best, therefore it is important from the onset to hear your voice and for you to take an active role in supporting your child’s development.  We will invite you for regular meetings to discuss your child progress and participate in the decision making of their development. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are in place for all children. Each child has unique targets that are specific for them which we share with you and work together to observe and assess progress on specific review dates.

We carry out daily observations on your child, which are written by the key educator working with your child. These observations can be accessed by you at any time for discussion. We also ask for feedback from you at every stage that we use daily to monitor your child’s progress

How will Imagination Preschool help my child with transitions to school?

With your consent, we will setup a transition meeting for parents, SENDCO and the new teacher to discuss your child’s learning journey. This will give you an opportunity to meet the new teacher and voice your views on the best way to settle your child in school.

We will complete a transition report which summarises your child’s development and learning outcomes and with your consent share with the school.

We will make a photo booklet for your child to prepare them for the new environment. The photo booklet will show photos of the uniform, what the building looks like, what their classroom looks like, what the teacher and TA will look like, where they will hang their coat etc.

Where possible, we will also invite the teacher and TA to come into our setting and observe your child to get to know them in a familiar environment and start building a relationship with them.

Where possible, we will accompany you and your child to the school for an induction day

How accessible are the environments?

We have communication friendly environments and language rich spaces.  At Imagination Preschool, the SENDCO and manager work closely to carry out termly reviews on what layouts are working/not working in the setting and how we can improve our practice so that we offer the best outcomes for the children attending. 

who is the Imagination sendco?

Nicole Blyth is the primary SEDCO Officer for all settings. She has an accredited level 3 in SEND.