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What early years providers must do to support 0-5 year olds with special educational needs or disabilities.
If your child has special educational needs or is disabled, their early years education provider must:
- have a SEND policy, which gives a clear approach of how they'll identify and respond to the needs of children with SEND and how they'll offer the support
- have detailed information for parents about how the setting supports children with SEND
- designate a member of staff to be responsible for coordinating SEND provision, called the SENCO
- make sure your child can join in with activities alongside other children
- tell you when they're making special educational provision for your child
- promote equal opportunities for disabled children
Maintained nursery schools must also have a SEND Information report, which is available on their website if they have one.
Special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs)
The SENCO has additional training and experience of children who have additional needs or disabilities. They're responsible for:
- advising and supporting other staff in SEND matters
- monitoring the progress of children with SEND
- liaising with other professionals
Early years information and resources for SENCOs.
Progress checks
Providers should review your child's progress regularly and involve you.
When your child is between two and three, your provider must review their progress. This progress check identifies your child's strengths and areas where their progress is slower than they'd expect.
They'll provide you with a short written summary of your child's development in three areas:
- personal, social and emotional development
- communication and language
- physical development
The summary must tell you where your child:
- is making good progress
- may need extra help
- may have developmental delay, which may indicate SEN or a disability
If your child needs extra help
If your childcare provider identifies that your child has a possible need, they'll develop a plan, involving you and other professionals.
The Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle
Providers use four actions to put SEN support in place. This is known as the graduated approach and the four actions are:
- assess
- plan
- do
- review
Assess
The early years practitioner and SENCO assess your child's needs to find out what support they need.
Plan
The early years practitioner or SENCO will:
- tell you what they can do to give your child the support they need
- involve you in planning towards an agreed set of outcomes
Do
The early years practitioner puts the planned support in place for your child and monitors them.
Review
The early years practitioner will review if the support is making a difference after the timeframe included in the plan.
Further assessment of needs
If the early years setting can't meet your child's needs through SEN support, they may need more specialist help. Your provider may suggest that you ask us to carry out a needs assessment for your child. This involves:
- looking in detail at the extra help that's already been put in place
- identifying what extra support your child may need
You should work with your child's early years setting before asking us for an EHC needs assessment to make sure they've put in place all possible support.
Information and advice on the adoption process and fostering a child in Bristol.
Adoption West manage all adoptions in Bristol.
For more information and advice, if you are considering fostering a child or young person:
Services for disabled children and their families, how to contact us.
We have three service areas for disabled children and their families. They are:
- social care hub services for children with additional needs
- specialist services for children who are likely to need lifelong support
- support in local children's centres and area social work teams who assess and support children
Social care hub services
- Advice and information on services in your community from FLORA (Families, Local Offer, Resources and Advice) as soon as you think your child has additional needs and before any assessment. Email FLORA on flora@bristol.gov.uk or phone 0117 352 6020.
- Needs assessments for children going through the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan process.
- Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan reviews to make sure social care support plans are included in your child's EHC plan.
- If your child has an EHC plan, you can contact us for support for local groups to make sure children with SEND can do activities in your community. Email flora@bristol.gov.uk
- Universal or targeted short breaks for you or your child.
- The Bristol Children's Disability Register, which offers a free discount card when you sign up and update on what's happening in your area.
Specialist services for disabled children
Specialist services for disabled children are for children who have complex health needs or moderate to severe learning disabilities and will need professional help throughout their lives. These services include:
- occupational therapy
- support from specialist social workers
- residential short breaks and overnight short breaks for the child
Services for disabled children who do not have lifelong or severe learning disabilities
Your local Family in Focus team or social work team can support you. They work with the social care hub and specialist social work teams when necessary.
Contact
If you need more information or have questions:
- email disabledchildren@bristol.gov.uk
- call 0117 903 8250
- text phone 0117 903 8255
- write to Disabled Children Services, 5 Knowle West Health Park, Downton Road, Bristol, BS4 1WH
Sign up to the Register to get a free discount card and stay updated on what's available in your area.
What the Register is
We're required by law to keep a voluntary register. This is of children and young people from birth to 18 years old who live in Bristol and have a disability or special educational need.
The Register helps us and local health services understand:
- how many children and young people with special educational needs live in Bristol
- the types of needs they have
Once registered, you'll get a pink card from Disabled Children Services, which you can use as identification if your disability isn't obvious. It also allows you to get discounts.
Who can join
Children and young people are eligible if they:
- are aged 0 to 18 years old
- have a disability, special need or health condition that affects their daily lives, including social communication disorders and learning disabilities
- live in Bristol
How to join
Add a child or young person to the Bristol Children's Disability Register
If you have any questions about the register email: disabledchildren@bristol.gov.uk
Why join
When a child or young person signs up to the register they'll get:
- The Pink Card, which they can use as proof of their disability and can be used for discounts at some local and national attractions
- The Local Offer newsletter and updates if you give us your email
The register is an opportunity for us to hear from children, young people, parents and carers. We use this information to plan and develop better services.
How we keep your details confidential
We keep your information on a secure computer database under the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation. The information you give us will be seen by social care staff across Bristol.
We'll archive or remove your child's information:
- when they reach 18 years old
- if they die
- if they move to an address outside of Bristol
Contact information
Email: disabledchildren@bristol.gov.uk
Call: 0117 903 8250
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