SENDIASS guidance for early years

You may become aware from an early age that your child may have special educational needs or disability (SEND) or your Health Visitor or your childcare provider may raise concerns. If you are concerned about your child’s development see our ….. webpage      

Providers of early years education, funded by a local authority, are required to have regard to the SEND Code of Practice

The SEND Code of Practice states that ‘Providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEN or disabilities. These arrangements should include a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN.’

Settings should have a designated member of staff who is responsible for coordinating special educational needs provision- This person is called the SENCO. You can ask to speak to the SENCO at your child’s setting if you have concerns about their development. 

Every child with special educational needs should have SEN support. This means help that is additional to or different from the support generally given to other children of the same age. The purpose of SEN support is to help children achieve the outcomes or objectives set for them by the setting in line with the EYFS or reach their developmental milestones. Settings should involve parents in this process.

SEN support is also known as the Graduated Approach/Response
For more information, please see your local authority’s Graduated Approach to SEND

• Graduated Approach Herefordshire
• Graduated Response Worcestershire

Further information regarding the Herefordshire Graduated Approach in the Early Years can be found here Herefordshire Early Years Graduated Approach.

Further information regarding the Worcestershire Graduated Response in the Early Years can be found on pages 22 to 38 of the The Graduated Response within Worcestershire.

In Herefordshire, an Early Years Inclusion Support Referral is the second step along the Herefordshire Graduated Approach. When a child is referred, they will be discussed at the Early Years Referral panel and a caseworker will be assigned. The caseworker will support the setting, to consider the provision for this child. For further information speak to the SENCO at your setting.

In Herefordshire The Portage Early Education Programme is also available. This is a home teaching scheme for families with a pre-school aged child (between 0 and 4 years old) who may have SEND. A referral to portage is usually made by health visitors, paediatricians, or physiotherapists. A portage worker from Herefordshire Council will liaise with parents to identify long term goals before starting to take small steps to support the child with their development. The aim of each home visit is to decide on a play-based activity, which is grounded in everyday situations, which the whole family can enjoy and practice together to provide fun and success for the child.

To find out more about portage, take a look at the National Portage Association website.

In Worcestershire the Early Years Inclusion Process (EYIP) is designed to support settings, children, and families in implementing the graduated response. Typically, health providers will make the initial notification to the EYIP when SEND is identified. However, EY providers can also notify EYIP when the reviews of the graduated response indicate that despite high levels of support being provided and/or the use of specialised strategies and resources, a child is making limited progress in specific or across all areas of development. For further information speak to the SENCO at your setting.

In most cases Early Years Settings will be able to meet children’s individual needs through SEN support.

However, some children may need support that is over and above this and may benefit from an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Prior to an EHC plan being produced, an Education, Health and Care needs assessment must take place to determine whether an EHCP is needed.

The local authority must carry out a needs assessment if they:

• believe your child has or may have special educational needs, and
• they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan

Settings or parents/carers can request a needs assessment by writing to or emailing their local authority

You can download our request for an EHC Needs Assessment model letter template to help with this.

Herefordshire

SEN team, 
Herefordshire Council, 
Plough Lane, 
Hereford 
HR4 0LE

Email:  EducationCYPD@herefordshire.gov.uk 

_senteamdiary@herefordshire.gov.uk please note the underscore at the beginning of the email address.

Phone: 01432 260274

Worcestershire

The Assessment Team 
SEND and Vulnerable Learners
Education and Early Help
Worcestershire County Council
County Hall
Spetchley Road
Worcester 
WR5 2NP

Email: SEN@worcestershire.gov.uk
Phone: 01905 846000

In Worcestershire you can submit a request for a EHC Needs Assessment via the Worcestershire County Council Children Portal. Worcestershire County Council have produced guides to using the portal and submitting a request for an EHC Needs Assessment. They can be downloaded below: 

• parent guide to submitting an EHCP assessment request (PDF)
• parent guide to setting up a parent portal account (PDF)

The local authority will then have 6 weeks to decide whether to carry out a needs assessment or not. 

For further information on Needs Assessments and Education, Health and Care Plans please see our SEND Support and EHCPs page.

For information on support available to help fund your child’s Early Years placement please see the Government Childcare Choices website

Every local authority must have an SEN inclusion fund to support early years providers in meeting the needs of individual children with SEND. You can ask your setting for further information on the support and funding available.

Settings are also eligible to receive Disability Access Fund (DAF) if they provide places for any 3 or 4 year-olds who receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

Please see the GOV.UK Sources of income for early years providers webpage for further information.

For further information on Early Years Inclusion funding in Herefordshire please see Funding for support in early years- Herefordshire.

For further information on Early Years Inclusion funding in Worcestershire please see page 124 of the Graduated Response Worcestershire.

Below are links to details of the services and support available to parents and families in both Herefordshire and Worcestershire. These websites include further information on:  

• health
• childcare
• specialist services
• holidays, play and leisure (respite, short breaks and activities) 

• Herefordshire - Educational support for early years
• Worcestershire - Early years, birth to starting school
• Parenting, health and school readiness support - Herefordshire
• Starting Well Worcestershire - support for parents and families

Contact for families with disabled children are a national charity for families of children with additional needs. Their website has information, advice and details of family workshops and events

Check out the Early Years section of our A-Z of support for further links to resources and support.