Nursery Management Supplement: Training – multi-tasking for SEND

Nurseries are seeing an increasing number of children with speech and language difficulties, mental health issues and behavioural problems. Earlier this year, Ofsted research found providers are making more referrals for external support with communication and language development than before the pandemic, and waiting longer for specialist help. Meanwhile, government figures show the number of families seeking Education, Health and Care plans rose by 23 per cent in 2022.

‘In the last few years we have seen an increase in the number of children with complex special needs coming through mainstream nursery,’ says Carol Daly, manager and SENCO at La Petite Academy nursery in Derby. ‘There are more children diagnosed with autism at a younger age than in the past.’ Communication and language difficulties are also common.

‘During Covid, a lot of “team around the child” meetings took place over Zoom, and we were talking to people who had not even met the child,’ says Daly. ‘Specialists are coming into the setting now but children are not getting seen as quickly by specialist support services as we would like.’

BIG RESPONSIBILITIES

In its review of SEND and alternative provision published in March, the Government proposed to increase the number of staff with an accredited Level 3 SENCO qualification in early years settings. Backed by £70 million in new funding, it also put forward plans to ensure that children have timely access to specialist services and to explore changes to early years funding for children with SEND. A consultation on the proposals closed in July, but the Government is yet to publish its promised delivery plan, which will set out measures to achieve these aims.

Training is a key element of the SEND review’s vision for the early years, which pictures a setting where all staff have completed SEND-specific CPD with a focus on child development. Practitioners would use these skills to identify children who need support, and work with a multidisciplinary team including health visitors and speech and language therapists.

Training up multiple members of staff is key, agrees Daly, who holds a Level 7 National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-ordination. ‘The more people you can have that are trained the better. One of our practitioners is completing the Level 3 Early Years SENCO qualification, and will be able to take on day-to-day SENCO responsibilities.’ La Petite Academy also employs a specialist SEND nursery nurse for two days a week who supports children with identified SEN to achieve the goals set in their Individual Education Plans.

‘Training more than one person to do the job is what works for us, because it is a huge job,’ says Daly. ‘The SENCO has to have meetings with parents, support staff, work with the children, liaise with professionals, stay on top of the paperwork – you can’t have one person doing all that.’

INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SENCOs

According to the current SEND code of practice, there must be a named SENCO in every PVI setting but there is no obligation that they should be qualified. However, having a qualified SENCO in every PVI setting is important, says Mandy Wilding, nasen education officer (early years). ‘Nasen believes that there should be a qualified SENCO in every early years PVI setting because the early and accurate identification of SEND is vital for meeting the needs of every child and ensuring the best long-term outcomes,’ she says.

The Department for Education has made funding available for SENCOs or aspiring SENCOs to complete Best Practice Network’s Level 3 Early Years SENCO qualification. Priority is being given to local authorities hardest hit by Covid. Practitioners also must meet eligibility criteria including working in a PVI setting, as an Ofsted-registered childminder or for a childminder agency. They also have to hold a full and relevant Level 3 qualification, and priority has been given to settings where there is the greatest need to increase the number of qualified SENCOs.

The four-month course is delivered through four three-hour online tutor-led sessions, including breakout room activities, group discussion and group training, and online Study Units for self-directed learning. Learning includes how to identify when SEN is occurring in children with EAL, how to actively engage the child and the child’s parents/carers in the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process, the role of the key person and the SENCO, and what an effective support plan should include. Learners are assessed through an e-portfolio of evidence against 26 criteria.

HEALTHY RESPONSE

Sian Marsh, early years and ITT director at Best Practice Network, says take-up of the qualification has been very strong. ‘We have been really pleased with the response from the sector and our autumn intake is now full,’ she says. ‘We have an allocation of 5,000 places over the two-year contract. The October cohort will have 125 SENCOs in it. We will have monthly cohorts of up to 300 people by the end of the year, so a waitlist is currently in operation.’

Nasen does not offer a specific SENCO training course but it does deliver CPD for early years practitioners to develop their knowledge. This includes a series of free DfE-funded webinars over the next few months, covering Meeting the Needs of Every Child and the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle, also known as the graduated approach. Other webinars, on issues such as sensory needs in the early years, can be bought as a one-off or accessed through an annual pass.

A three-year DfE-funded partnership between School Improvement Liverpool (SIL) and nasen, delivering SIL’s own Level 3 Accredited SENCO Award, ended in March this year. However, SIL now offers a Train the Trainer course to local authorities, upskilling trainers to deliver the award to early years SENCOs in their area. The four-day training package can be delivered online, face-to-face or both, and gives trainers a two-year licence to deliver the award. ‘We support trainers to personalise their delivery to their local authorities,’ says Lisa Dorrity, senior school improvement officer, EYFS learning strategies at SIL. ‘We will also carry out a quality improvement visit to the local authority.’

SIL aims to offer progression through a SEND training pathway, with Level 2 and Level 4 training also available.

Settings are changing their practice to meet current challenges. ‘Recently a child had a physiotherapy appointment and a member of staff went with him with an iPad and videoed the exercises he was given so we could replicate them and didn’t have to wait for support in the setting,’ says Daly. The nursery managed to obtain three EHC plans for children last year, and is working with parents to complete two more at the moment.

‘We need a good amount of evidence from at least three Plan, Do, Review cycles,’ Daly says. ‘It is worth spending more time making sure the paperwork is there so we have got evidence that proves what a child’s needs are.’

Case study: Elmscot Woodlands Day Nursery, Trafford

Lauren O’Brien has been SENCO at Outstanding-rated Elmscot Woodlands for five years. ‘For me it is imperative that we have a solid and passionate SENCO,’ says manager Danielle Riley. ‘It is so important to have that advocate for the children, and this gives the team and parents the reassurance they need.’

Lauren completed her NCFE CACHE Level 3 Award for Special Educational Needs Coordinators in Early Years Settings in 2022, which she believes helped equip her with the knowledge and tools to ‘ensure children’s learning journeys are the best they can be’, she says. The qualification also professionalises the role, she says: ‘It’s important there is a recognition of the SENCO role in early years, given the increasing number of difficulties that children are facing.’

Lauren has revamped the integrated review process, providing health visitors with more information, and brought more detail into children’s individual plans. ‘We work really well with the health visitor team and they often recommend us to parents,’ she says.

Trafford Council runs an Early Years SENCO Forum, with guest speakers and practical workshops. Other training includes five days’ Emotional Literacy Support Assistant training through Trafford Early Years, Trafford Council’s learning and development programme. ‘Since Covid, we have seen a sharp rise in children with issues with their emotional wellbeing and behaviour, although that is starting to calm down now,’ Lauren says.

As the setting’s Communication Champion, Lauren has also taken part in training on issues including use of the Wellcomm screening tool and children with English as an additional language. This is then disseminated to other staff.