SEND Local Offer

Northgate Nursery is a school nursery, which strives to be fully inclusive. We offer a high quality, safe and stimulating environment. We are a one-storey nursery with full access to all. Our qualified and experienced staff use the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS 2021). Northgate Nursery uses a ‘Key Person’ system. Each child is allocated an adult as they begin with us. The Key Person is the main person responsible for the care and development of each child. The Key Person will observe each child and support their progress throughout their time at our nursery. Each child is observed throughout each week. Each child will have a target called ‘Individual Play Plans’ (IPPs) to work towards over each half term. These IPPs are shared with parents to ensure a collaborative partnership with the nursery and families in order for the child’s learning to progress at home too.  

At Northgate Nursery, we understand that some children may need some additional support - including children who may have medical needs - during their time with us. Some may require additional support from staff within the nursery for a short period of time. Other children may need long term support with the possibility of outside agencies coming to work with the children to support staff. Where a child is showing difficulty within an area of learning, we would first discuss this with parents before developing a plan to using our ‘Plan, Do, Assess & Review’ system. This plan will outline next steps such as targeted support to be carried out within the nursery. The support would then take place; this is the ‘Do’ part of the system. The staff member leading the support would then ‘Assess’ the progress made and ‘Review’ the support given. This may lead to a referral to an outside specialist agency.

The Northgate Nursery manager is dedicated to supporting and overseeing the additional support provided to children as the nursery’s Early Years Special Educational Needs Co-Coordinator (EY SENCo). The EY SENCo also supports staff to identify any concerns with children where additional support has/has not been recognised. The EY SENCo works with staff and parents to manage children’s needs by continually sharing information and evidence linked to the children’s learning and development with parents.

To support a child with additional need(s) further, it may be appropriate to develop more targeted support such as a SEND Support Plan, which includes our ‘Plan, Do, Assess & Review’ system. This plan may lead to a more specialist service being contacted to ensure the child’s needs are being met. In accordance with our SEND Policy and in line with the SEND Code of Practice and Equalities Act, we will work in partnership with children and their families along with any other relevant agencies involved. We will endeavour to support the inclusion of all children, and as far as possible, adapt the nursery to meet their needs while providing a high-quality childcare provision.

At Northgate Nursery, there are many opportunities for parents to discuss their child’s progress. We provide daily feedback via verbal conversations and ‘Going Home Slips’ from each child’s key person. We offer an ‘open door’ policy with management. We have termly ‘Parents Meetings’ and additional meetings if required. We encourage parents to share any feedback or correspondence from meetings with other agencies involved with their child. This ensures our excellent partnership with staff and families and to ensure that we can continue to adapt and develop our provision to support each child’s changing needs.

Our full Special Educational Needs & Disability policy can be found by Clicking this link.