SEND stands for Special Educational Needs and Disability. Children and families with SEND are entitled to specialist provision and services.
For more information on the new SEND reforms see the Children and Family Act and statutory guidance on SEND in England and Wales can be found in the national SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years.
At Pen Green we celebrate all children and families. We embrace diversity and recognise the rich contribution of each unique child. We believe that children and families need person-centred services which promote full social participation, enabling everybody to maximise their health, well-being and life chances.
Pen Green are on a journey to becoming an fully inclusive centre with equality of access. To achieve this, our staff are breaking down the barriers families face when accessing services or asking for help. We are pro-actively seeking the children and their families with special rights, not waiting for them to come to us. Our goal is to work with all children and families with SEND in Corby.
The team at Pen Green share a vision that respects each child’s right to be viewed as an independent and autonomous individual with a fundamental right to a fair and equal education.
Children of any level of need are welcome in our nursery and early years provision and families are invited to visit to discuss individual needs with our SEND team or apply directly.
Our inclusive provision offers families with SEND a range of options to meet their specific support needs. We always try to find a way to engage and support children and families as best we can. Children with SEND are supported by their Family Worker, members of the SEND team and where appropriate, external professionals and agencies. Some children will also received a 1:1 support worker. To ensure that children with SEND have access to their education the staff will undertake extra training to make sure that the placement will go ahead.
All children in our provision have individual planning and documentation that reflects their personal interests and curiosities. Children with SEND also have a specific action plan, which uses a small step approach to support their learning. This is reviewed on a regular basis with parents. We also create a one page profile for each SEND child. This gives all staff and external colleagues vital information about the child, improving their understanding of the child’s unique needs, helping to ensure high well-being.
We also support families by:
If you would like to speak to a member of team about any concerns, please contact the SEND Lead, Amy Devine.
A small group of professionals was tasked with developing a celebratory assessment tool for children with special educational needs and/or disability. This work has been funded by the Department for Education.
The Early Years Working Party acknowledged the progress of children with SEND cannot easily be demonstrated or celebrated using existing Early Years frameworks and identified key challenges in relating to this notion. Through discussion the Working Party identified a set of principles informing their recommendations and suggestions and considered several assessment pathways with associated assessment tools. The aim being to place the child at the centre and to celebrate their learning and development. The outcome has been the publication of a booklet and online Toolkit ‘A Celebratory Approach to SEND Assessment in the Early Years’. The booklet provides templates, interactive links and video vignettes and is accessible here.
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