Sunnyside at Sun Street is a newly established pre-school setting for children aged 2 eligible for 2 year funding, We are situated in the East of Reading within the Sun Street community Hub and East Cluster Children Centre, The Pre-school provides care for 2 year olds between the hours of 9:30am and 2:30pm, 39 weeks of the year.

All of the staff employed within Sunnyside are qualified staff with a Level 3 award Early Years Professional Status. Our practitioners understand that children develop quickly in the early years and that their experiences have a huge impact on their future.

We share the vision that we will;

• Provide high quality care and individual learning experiences
• Regularly assess each child's development to personalise their learning and enhance their progress
• Work collaboratively with the child, their family and other professionals
• Promote equality by ensuring that the children and their families are supported and included
• Provide a stimulating, interesting and attractive learning environment

‘’This takes place in an environment where adults are positive and supportive, and the children feel safe and happy.”

 October 2022

Once a child is familiar with the setting the key person begins to monitor their progress using the Early Years Outcomes documents as guidance. The key person observes their key group, considers the child’s interests and speaks to parents in order to decide which activities may help the child to progress. A summary of the child’s achievement is completed at the end of the term and the age band they are working within is highlighted. Parents, carers and key persons can then discuss strengths and areas where progress is less than expected. If a key person, parent or carer suspects a child may require additional support they can speak to the settings Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). The SENCo will observe the child and communicate with the key person and parent on appropriate steps forward.

A daily two way flow of information between the parent, carers and practitioners ensures that information is shared and the child is suitably supported.  A more formal meeting is offered three times a year and as and when there is a significant change to the child’s care and learning. The SENCo (Nursery Manager) will meet once each term to discuss the SEN provision and how well the individual children are progressing and how they are being supported.

Here at Sunnyside we use activities and experiences to provided children with learning and development that is individual to them. The key person, SENCo and parent will be involved in revising the curriculum for the child should we feel this is required. Due to being a much smaller setting we are able to include spending more one to one time with the key person or adapting an activity to ensure inclusion across our setting and for all children. In addition to this we can also take advice from other professionals and use this to assist when we are adapting the curriculum.

Here at Sunnyside we use a range of resources that support our teaching on a daily basis.

examples of these are as follows:

Visual timetables, small groups, timers for turn taking, specific resources, visual clue cards, signing or other augmentative forms of communication.

The setting ensures that the staff remain up to date on training and latest initiatives around SEND in order that any strategies employed are in conjunction with contemporary information and/or legislation.

If all those working with the child and their parents feel they will benefit from additional support an application can be made to the early years intervention panel by the SENCo. The panel is made up of a group of professionals who support children with special educational needs such as pre-school support teachers and educational psychologists. The panel decides if it is appropriate for the child to receive additional support and they will reply to the nursery and parent via formal letter. If additional support is granted a practitioner will carry out specific interventions and strategies in line with the initial plan at least for the number of hours funding in provided for. If support is required outside of the setting the SENCo will help the parents to source this information. If the setting requires support to help children to progress they will seek this from outside professionals with the parents knowledge.

Once a child is familiar with the setting the key person begins to monitor their progress using the Early Years Outcomes documents as guidance. The key person observes their key group, considers the child’s interests and speaks to parents in order to decide which activities may help the child to progress. A summary of the child’s achievement is completed at the end of the term and the age band they are working within is highlighted. Parents, carers and key persons can then discuss strengths and areas where progress is less than expected. If a key person, parent or carer suspects a child may require additional support they can speak to the settings Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). The SENCo will observe the child and communicate with the key person and parent on appropriate steps forward.

As the children are young at the setting a lot of the outings are fairly local and accessible for all. We will ensure that there are adequate facilities for all children who attend the setting and this include's participating in any activities on offer, Activities and experiences will be adapted to meet the abilities of the children to the best of our ability.

The building is accessible to people with mobility difficulties. For example the entrances are wide enough for both pushchairs and wheelchairs. There are disabled toilet facilities.

The nursery is easy to navigate as the corridors are wide and we are directly at the end of the building.

When a child moves to our setting from another and an additional need is known our SENCo will observe the child in their current setting, communicate with their team and ours and plan an approach which will best meet the needs of individual children. When it is time for a child with special educational needs to transition to another setting the SENCo is able to advise parents to visit prospective Pre-schools to make an informed decision of where they want their child’s education to continue. The child's keyperson is able to arrange these visits and attend with the parents if they wish for additional support. Once an appropriate setting has been chosen the SENCo and keyperson will begin the transition process of inviting the new teacher/key person to visit the setting, arrange visits for the child to in their new setting and also arrange a moving on meeting between the new setting and parents if they wish to be present. The meeting enables information sharing and future support can be identified. Parents are asked if copies of relevant paperwork can be given to the new setting to help them continue with their child’s staggered approach to learning

As a new setting we will be reviewing the support and effectiveness of the SEN provision alongside other professionals and with support of the early years team.

At Sunnyside we use a daily two way flow of information between the parent, carers and practitioners ensures that information is shared.  A more formal meeting is offered three times a year and as and when there is a significant change to the child’s care and learning we review the effectiveness of the support and include parents within this. We will listen to and take on board parents suggestions and thoughts and give parents time and consideration when discussing the needs of their child.

You can contact the setting directly and the manager or deputy can be spoken to upon request.

It is recognised that parents are the prime educators of their children and we understand that comments whether negative or positive are made with the children’s best interest at heart. 

When the children begins at the setting, the parents are given a handbook which contains all of the policies at the setting. There is a specific policy around SEN and also a complaints/compliments procedure. The policies explain the procedures clearly and informatively about what a parent should do if they have a comment or complaint and where they can go if they are not satisfied with their response

Those wishing to make a complaint can speak to a senior staff member, this being the Manager or Deputy Manager. Usually, most problems can be addressed quickly, and we will ensure any problems are resolved within a reasonable timescale.