Maples Support for children with additional needs
All children are supported to:
- Feel safe and welcome at Maples Nursery School
- Develop a sense of belonging
- Learn and develop at their own pace
- Reach their full potential
Early identification and assessment
Maples Nursery School has arrangements in place that include a clear approach to assessing SEN according to the SEND Code of Practice 0 - 25 years (2015). This is part of the setting's overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all children. In assessing progress of children in Maples nursery, teachers and practitioners use the non-statutory curriculum guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), alongside the "Birth to Five Matters" framework. Practitioners work closely with parents and constantly observe and assess children's development, to determine the extent to which a young child is developing within expected levels for their age. The guidance mentioned above sets out what most children do at each stage of their learning and development. These include typical behaviours across tha seven areas of learning.
Intervention Room
At Maples Nursery School and Children's Centre, alongside quality first teaching and a rich EYFS curriculum, we provide additional and different provision in order to support children with SEND.
At Maples we are fortunate to have a room that we have set up to support children with SEND. Staff in the room are experienced in working and supporting children with a range of needs such as Down Syndrome, Autism, speech and language delay as well as visual and hearing impairments.
The Intervention Room has a higher staff to child ratio so we are able to carry out targeted interventions daily in line with therapy targets, such as:
Intensive Interaction - SLT strategy to support the development of Communication.
'Bucket Time' SLT strategy to support attention, listening, focus, turn taking and speech and language development.
People games - to develop joint attention and social interactions.
'Work Station' at a quite work area to focus on completing small achievable tasks in line with individual children’s developmental level.
Objects and visuals used at your child’s level of symbolic understanding.
Hand under hand Support is given when needed to develop play skills.
Persistence coaching to praise and encourage your child to not give up.
Support to develop toileting and self-help skills.
Choice Boxes- to make choices between activities with support of visuals.
All activities are supported with visuals, Makaton and gesture alongside words.
Spaces in the Intervention Room are limited and depend on the range of children accessing the room and their needs.
All parents and carers are notified when a child receives SEN support.