| Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) local Offer |
At Little Squirts we are committed to providing the best possible care and education to all children. We follow guidance from the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice and work closely with the Early Years Support team at Central Bedfordshire to ensure we are supporting families and children through the early years of education.
The Local Offer for Central Bedfordshire can be found at www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/localoffer
| About us |
Little Squirts is a family run setting in Flitwick, providing care and education for children aged 3 months to 5 years. We have dedicated staff for the varying ages and integrate the children throughout the day through planned activities and at mealtimes. We are open 51 weeks of the year, closing for the week between Christmas and new year. | |
| About our building | Our building is all on ground level with wheelchair access and a large disabled toilet accessible to children and adults. We have child size toilets and sinks to encourage independence in personal care. We have 3 separate rooms which includes a large hall that can be used for large physical activities in poor weather to ensure that the children maintain appropriate levels of exercise. |
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| About our staff |
At Little Squirts our staff promote positive relationships with children and their families through our key person policy, this assists in early detection of any concerns regarding a child’s development and learning. Our SENCo lead is Tiffany Richmond. She is trained to be able to identify children with additional needs and works closely with a child’s family and key person in the setting should any additional needs be identified. Our deputy is our Manager Rebecca Mann who is also trained and have experience of working with children with a variety of additional needs. |
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| Identifying children with additional needs | At Little Squirts we recognise the importance of early detection of any additional needs a child may have in order to ensure that each child is able to access the activities and fully engage in what the setting offers. Where there is a concern, the child’s key person will have an initial conversation with parents, this will be following clear monitoring and recording of what the concerns are to give the parent a true representation of the behaviours and concerns the setting has. This initial conversation can help to identify whether there are any concerns at home and to ascertain whether the child is displaying different behaviours at home in comparison to the setting. This is also an opportunity to discuss any early strategies that could support the child both at home and within the setting. At this point it will be discussed whether the setting are able to make reasonable adjustments to support the child or whether it is felt that the child may need further support in relation to having one to one support throughout the day. A SEND support plan may be put into place and the setting may request for an Early Years Advisory teacher to visit the setting to help in the assessment and advisory process. |
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| Working with children with additional needs | We welcome children of all abilities and will make reasonable adjustments to provision to ensure all children are able to access our activities and curriculum fully. Where necessary we will complete a SEND support plan, working with parents and following guidance from the Early Years Support Team. An individual’s SEND support plan will identify the areas of development that are in need of additional support as well as detail how the setting intend to work towards assisting the child in achieving their learning and development goals. |
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| Further information |
For any further information please contact the Manager at: |