How do you communicate with the parent / carer whose child has SEND?
If you are looking for a nursery for your child, we would encourage you to visit the nursery with your child. During the visit we could discuss any extra support your child may need and look at the space within the setting to see if the physical environment would be suitable or how we could adapt it to suit. You could meet the manager and SENCO who would be able to discuss any concerns and special requirements, including training, equipment, and interests of your child. Once your child has joined the nursery, they would be allocated a key worker who will liaise with you daily on how things are going. You would be able to see observations of your child's learning via Tapestry which is an online learning journal we use with all our families. In addition you would be invited to termly meetings hopefully including other professionals that are working with your child, the nursery SENCO and your child's key worker. The purpose of these meetings would be to review progress and agree new targets. All parents at Bibury are of course welcome to discuss any issues at any time by just asking.
How do you help children settle into your setting?
Settling generally takes place over three to four sessions, these are not charged. The first two sessions parents would be required to stay on the premises. We like the last settling in session to include a meal time if your child will be staying for meals. During these sessions staff will try to interact with your child so that they start to become trusted adults rather than strangers. We would introduce extra support to meet your child's needs which would be discussed before starting. Our first priority is to settle your child into playing happily and feeling safe at nursery, therefore any specific intervention work would start when we felt this had been achieved.
What help and support does your setting offer to children with SEND as they move rooms or move on to school?
Children transferring from the baby room to the big room at Bibury start by visiting for shorter periods of time with their current key worker. Depending on the child/situation it may be that the key worker would move up with the child,but it is more usual for the child to acquire a new key worker. Transitions can be gradual and will be planned to meet individual children's needs. When your child is ready to move onto school the SENCO will ensure that there is a transition meeting with the school to support as smooth a transition as possible. In the past key workers and the SENCO have supported parents by visiting potential schools with them and we always make extra time to discuss any concerns/options.
How do you find out how each child likes to learn?
All children at Bibury are encouraged to pursue learning through play and explore their own interests and fascinations. With children who have SEND this will be just the same, extra resources can be made or bought to facilitate this. In addition it may be that a child's target will be set to encourage development of skills in an area that they are not naturally drawn to in order to help them make progress in a specific area. Eg using a walker outside .In this case staff will use praise, encouragement and rewards to make progress, celebrating any success along the way. They will also recognise that everyone has bad days and some days the child simply won't want to do it. This approach has seen children make good progress in the past both with their specific learning targets and allowed them to enjoy and access all areas of the curriculum.
Activities that are planned for all the children to take part in will be adapted as necessary to enable every child to access, enjoy and learn from them.
Inclusive practice / SEND training and expertise within this organisation
Currently at Bibury the SENCO is Gayle O'Shea she completed SENCO training with the Local Authority in 2018. Since then she has successfully supported several children and families with various needs some quite complex and ensured smooth transitions to school. Several staff have been on sign along courses. There is one member of staff that has been on specific training to support speech and language development gaining a level 3 award from ELKLAN.
The information in this SEND Local Offer was completed on 26/05/2021