1. Our commitment
Every child is entitled to a welcoming, safe and inclusive early years experience. We work with children, parents and carers to identify strengths, remove barriers and provide support that helps each child participate, learn and develop. We respect children as individuals and do not define them by a diagnosis or label.
This policy applies to all children attending Tickleford Preschool, including children with emerging needs, identified special educational needs (SEN), disabilities or an education, health and care plan (EHCP). A diagnosis, an EHCP or an award of additional funding is not a prerequisite for starting appropriate support or considering reasonable adjustments.
We have regard to the SEND Code of Practice, meet the applicable Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) requirements and our Equality Act 2010 duties, and follow Southampton’s Early Years Funding Provider Agreement. We explain our SEND support offer clearly to families and keep the information we supply for the Southampton Local Offer accurate. Families can find information about Tickleford’s SEND support through a combination of parent information and online channels. The SENCo helps parents locate or receive the relevant information in an accessible form.
2. Understanding needs
SEN arises where a child has a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision. Disability and SEN can overlap, but a disabled child does not necessarily have SEN. We consider communication and interaction; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health; and sensory and/or physical needs. Children may have needs across several areas, and these may change.
Speaking English as an additional language is not itself SEN. We consider development in the child’s home language, their experiences, hearing and vision, and the accessibility of our teaching and environment. Behaviour may communicate distress or an unmet need; we seek to understand its cause.
3. Who to contact
Parents can speak to their child’s key person or our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), Madeline Kenway-Allanach. Contact andy@ticklefordpreschool.co.uk or telephone 07557 677715. We offer private discussions and accessible communication where needed. Andy Hiscock is the manager and director responsible for this policy and covers the SENCo role when Madeline is absent.
Madeline Kenway-Allanach has completed SENCo training and receives time within her working hours to carry out the role. Andy provides management oversight and absence cover.
Access, participation and early support
4. Inclusive admissions and reasonable adjustments
We discuss a child’s needs with their family before starting wherever possible, including existing professional advice, communication preferences, medical needs and successful strategies. We agree settling-in arrangements and review them with the family. We do not apply blanket admission conditions based on disability, diagnosis, continence or a parent providing additional staffing.
We anticipate barriers and consider reasonable adjustments to routines, communication, resources, activities and the environment, including appropriate auxiliary aids and services. We consider access to meals, play, outings, rest, personal care and the full learning experience. We record agreed adjustments, who will arrange them and when their effectiveness will be checked. Families are not charged for reasonable adjustments that the Equality Act requires us to make.
We assess individual risks proportionately with parents and relevant professionals. Staff receive information and training needed to provide safe care, use equipment and follow any individual healthcare or intimate-care plan. A risk assessment supports participation; it must not be used as a blanket reason to exclude children with SEND.
We do not automatically reduce sessions, require a parent to stay, or end a place because a child has SEND, displays distressed behaviour or is waiting for funding or specialist advice. Any proposed restriction requires an individual assessment, consideration of reasonable adjustments and alternatives, discussion with the family and appropriate council advice. Any exceptional temporary change must have a recorded reason, review date and plan for restoring access; it must not become an informal exclusion for administrative or financial convenience. Immediate safeguarding or medical emergencies are managed under the relevant procedures.
5. Identifying needs with families
The key person observes the child in everyday play and routines, listens to parents and the child, and reviews progress over time. We use relevant information from other settings and professionals and complete the EYFS progress check between ages two and three where applicable. Assessment is proportionate and does not take staff unnecessarily away from children.
We discuss concerns promptly and sensitively with parents, explaining what we have noticed and asking what happens at home. Parents may raise a concern at any time. The SENCo helps assess possible barriers and agrees immediate support with the key person and family. We do not wait for a diagnosis or require a child to complete a fixed number of intervention cycles before seeking appropriate advice.
We find out what matters to the child through play, observation, pictures, signs, their preferred communication methods and trusted adults. We record their interests, preferences and responses and use these in decisions about support. Where parents and staff have different views, we record them respectfully, explain options and continue appropriate inclusive support.
Our graduated approach to SEN support
6. Assess, plan, do and review
High-quality, responsive teaching is the starting point for every child. When additional or different provision is needed, the SENCo, key person and parents use an ongoing graduated approach. Support is adjusted to the individual rather than determined solely by a category or label.
Assess
Bring together the child’s strengths, interests and needs, family views, the child’s views, observations, developmental information and relevant professional advice. Consider the learning environment and whether existing adjustments and teaching approaches meet the child’s needs. Record the starting point so that progress and the impact of support can be evaluated.
Plan
Agree a concise written SEN support plan with parents. Record meaningful outcomes, a small number of achievable next steps, specific strategies and adjustments, resources, who will provide support, and its frequency and duration. Include specialist recommendations and links to any healthcare plan. State the review date and how progress will be assessed. Give parents an accessible copy and explain how they can contribute without making home activities a condition of support.
Do
The key person remains responsible for the child’s day-to-day learning and care, with guidance from the SENCo. Staff implement the agreed support within play and everyday routines, as well as any planned intervention. The SENCo helps staff understand strategies, coordinates professional input and checks that support is delivered. Relevant staff know the plan and cover arrangements; responsibility does not rest only with an additional adult.
Review
Review the plan with parents at least once each term, and sooner if needs change, the child is distressed, support is ineffective or a professional recommends it. Consider the child’s experience and progress towards outcomes, not simply whether an activity was completed. Record what has helped, what needs to change, new outcomes, responsibilities and the next review date. Seek further advice when needed and explain the decision to parents.
7. Staff responsibilities and oversight
The manager ensures sufficient oversight, staff development, safe deployment and access to resources. The SENCo coordinates identification, plans, referrals, records, funding evidence and transitions; supports colleagues; and maintains links with local services. Key persons build relationships with families, implement plans and report changes promptly. All staff follow agreed adjustments, protect confidentiality and challenge discriminatory practice.
SEND support plans and review records are held securely in Nursery in a Box and Microsoft 365, with access controlled by staff role. Plans record strengths and needs, outcomes, support, the responsible person, frequency, resources and the next review date. We review them with parents at least once each term and sooner when needs change. Parents receive a copy of their child’s plan and each review through NiB or another agreed method.
Specialist help, EHC plans and transitions
8. Working with other services
Madeline coordinates specialist referrals and transition handovers with parents and the child’s key person. Tickleford works with Southampton’s Early Years advisory team or Area SENCo service when further advice is needed. With parental involvement and the permissions required by the relevant pathway, we also seek advice from appropriate health, speech and language, educational psychology, sensory and other specialist services. We use Southampton’s early years ordinarily available provision guidance to evaluate our offer.
We explain the purpose of a referral, the information to be shared, who will receive it and the next steps. We help families understand local pathways and follow up requests. A written diagnosis or specialist recommendation is not required before we provide appropriate support or explore a referral. We continue support while families wait and use relevant advice to update the child’s plan. Early Help can be considered with the family where coordinated wider support would help.
9. Education, health and care needs assessment
Some children may need an EHC needs assessment. Parents can request an assessment from their local authority. We can bring a child’s needs to the authority’s attention and support a request with the family. The statutory assessment test concerns whether the child has or may have SEN and whether it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan. There is no blanket requirement to wait for a diagnosis or complete a fixed number of SEN support cycles.
We provide clear evidence of strengths, needs, outcomes, support and adjustments already provided, progress, professional advice and family and child views. The local authority makes the assessment and plan decisions and explains the statutory process, timescales and rights to mediation and appeal. An assessment request does not suspend our existing responsibilities.
Where a child has an EHCP, we work with the family, local authority and professionals to deliver the provision for which we are responsible and report promptly if arrangements are not meeting the child’s needs. We contribute to reviews and provide evidence about progress. The local authority must review a plan at least annually; the SEND Code recommends considering reviews every three to six months for children under five. Placement and admission questions are considered under the applicable legal framework, without blanket assumptions about a setting’s right to refuse.
10. Moving into, within and on from Tickleford
We plan transitions early with parents, the receiving setting or school and relevant professionals. We agree visits, familiarisation, accessible communication and any equipment or training needed. We share relevant plans and records securely and lawfully, confirm who will coordinate handover and explain the arrangements to parents. We involve the child in ways they understand and do not assume that support will transfer automatically without coordination.
Madeline coordinates transitions, including information sharing and handover with families and receiving settings. Current referral details are checked through Southampton’s published professional pathways.
Funding, records and raising concerns
11. Funding and free entitlement
Funded entitlement hours remain free. We do not charge parents a top-up for a funding shortfall or make them pay for additional SEND support required within funded provision. Buying paid hours, meals, consumables or optional activities is not a condition of access. Families can decline voluntary extras without losing their funded place or receiving a reduced quality of care; free alternatives are explained in our parent terms.
We check eligibility for Southampton’s SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF), Disability Access Fund (DAF) and other appropriate support, and apply where eligible through the council process with the required parental involvement. We record how awards support the child’s plan. DAF depends on the applicable eligibility rules, including Disability Living Allowance and a funded entitlement; it is not automatically available to every child with SEND. Parents nominate the receiving provider where required. We do not promise an award before confirmation.
Child-specific inclusion funding is clearly identified and used for the support recorded in the child’s SEN support plan/IEP or EHCP, in accordance with award conditions. We retain decisions, expenditure and evidence of impact. Any setting-wide inclusion allocation is used for its permitted purposes and recorded separately as required. We review effectiveness and do not delay reasonable adjustments solely because an application is pending.
12. Confidentiality, records and safeguarding
We keep proportionate, dated records of concerns, discussions, child and parent views, assessments, support plans, reviews, referrals, professional advice, adjustments, funding and transitions. Access is restricted to those who need the information for their role. Records are kept securely and retained under the documented retention schedule and applicable legal and funding requirements.
Our parent and child privacy notice explains purposes, lawful bases, recipients, retention and rights. We identify an appropriate lawful basis and, for health and other special-category information, the relevant additional condition. We explain routine information sharing and obtain consent where it is the appropriate basis or a referral requires it. We do not promise to obtain consent for every disclosure: necessary lawful safeguarding sharing may take place without it, with the reason recorded. SEND must never be used to dismiss signs of abuse or neglect. Staff follow our safeguarding procedures and seek immediate help where necessary.
13. Concerns, complaints and independent advice
Speak to the key person or SENCo, or make a formal complaint to Andy Hiscock, manager and director, at andy@ticklefordpreschool.co.uk or the setting address. Complaints about Andy use the same contact. The separate procedure explains the limits of same-person handling and reconsideration; Tickleford has no independent internal appeal. We make the process accessible, keep records and give reasons. Written EYFS complaints are investigated and the outcome notified within 28 calendar days. Raising a concern will not disadvantage a child. External advice and reporting routes follow below.
Parents may contact Ofsted directly about registration or EYFS concerns (gov.uk/complain-about-childcare), and Southampton about funded provision or its SEND decisions. Southampton SENDIASS offers independent information, advice and support: southamptonsendiass.info | 0300 303 2677. Urgent safeguarding concerns should be reported immediately through safeguarding routes; call 999 in an emergency.