All about our groups for children with special needs

We are fully committed to the inclusion of all children and believe that this is beneficial to both the mainstream children and those with special needs that they play and learn together. We have long experience and expertise in working with children with varying special needs, and involve the parents, who know their child best, in every aspect of the child’s learning at nursery.

We have two Surrey County Council funded types of provision for children with special needs and we have a different admissions procedures to the 3-5s nursery for these (see link). The staff in both groups work very closely together to plan the children’s learning led by the special needs and inclusion manager and overseen by the special needs coordinator (SENCO).

Pre-School Speech, Language & Communication Needs Unit (PSLCN Unit)
This PSLCN unit is for 10 children aged 3-5 years with a range of severe speech and language impairments. These children are generally age appropriate in all other areas of development. They are fully included in the main nursery and need to be able to play independently without adult support in the setting. Working with these children we have a full-time nursery nurse and a speech and language therapist who works 4 sessions per week. The children have full access to all the mainstream nursery activities both indoors and outside and we develop the children’s language through a whole variety of ways including:

• small group language activities, following the ‘Language Steps’ programme
• individual and group speech and language therapy
• visits to the local town and surrounding area to give meaning to the language learning
• playing in the mainstream classroom and garden

Special Needs Support Centre (SNSC)
We have 6 places in the SNSC for children with varying and complex additional needs e.g. autism, developmental delay, Downs Syndrome, hearing impairment. The special needs and inclusion manager leads this group with a team of learning support assistants, and the speech and language therapist works with the children for 2 sessions per week. The children have the use of their own group room but are included in the main classroom as much as is appropriate for them, with adult support if needed. The children’s individual needs are identified and we work closely with parents and a range of other professionals to develop strategies to help each child reach his/her potential. These vary from child to child but may include: pictorial timetables, Makaton*, PECS*. We also take the children out on frequent visits for ‘real life’ experiences to develop their language and extend their personal and social skills. This leads to developing their imaginative play within the nursery.

*Makaton is a sign language which is always used with spoken language. Research indicates that using signs/ gestures promotes and stimulates speech development. This is an approach that we use throughout the Centre with all the children.

*PECS – Picture Exchange Communication System – this is to encourage and develop communication and language through exchanging pictures for an object or activity

Admission to the PSLCN unit or SNSC

This is for children from 3 - 5 years. Places are allocated to children from a much wider area of Surrey than for the main nursery

The admissions procedure is:

• The child is referred to additional needs administration at Surrey County Council's local education office, via the health service (i.e. following a medical with a paediatrician from the area hospital)
• The child's papers are discussed at a panel in the education office to consider whether they would be suitable to be considered for a place at the nursery
• If suitable the child is considered for a placement in the PSLCN Unit or SNSC Group at an admissions panel*

* The admissions panel is led by a representative from special needs administration and includes a clinical medical officer, educational psychologist, speech and language therapist, the special educational needs co-ordinator and others, as appropriate.

Parents whose children may be going through this process or who have concerns about their child's special  needs are invited to phone the nursery to arrange a visit.

Useful website - 'Partnership with Parents' provides a confidential and impartial information, advice and support service for parents of children with special or additional educational needs.  www.pwpsurrey.org. Tel: 01737 737300.