- For residents
- Schools, learning and early years
- Adult courses and learning
- Subsites
- SEND Local Offer
Apply for early years SEN funding.
To find out what information you should include with your application read the guidance: pdf Special educational needs provision for Bristol Early Years: Bristol Universal Descriptors (359 KB) . This guidance is only for early years providers located in Bristol.
Make a first application for Early Years SEN panel funding
To make a first application to support an individual child, you must fill in a:
- document Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel Funding application form (27 KB)
- support plan: you can use our document Early years SEND support plan template (474 KB) using our pdf support plan guidance (546 KB) , or create your own. If a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, send this instead
- document Early Years Individual Provision Plan (33 KB)
- risk assessment: you can use our document Early Years Individual Risk Assessment template (50 KB) and use our completed pdf example Individual Risk Assessment (98 KB) as guidance when filling it in
Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel Funding application form
You'll need information about:
- the child
- what sessions the child goes to
- details of the support you've given the child
- your setting's details
Support plan
A support plan helps us to take a multi-agency approach to support the child and their family. You should:
- fill in the plan with the family
- include the views of any professionals working with the child and family
Early Years Individual Provision Plan
This gives a detailed summary of the provision and strategies you'll use to support an individual child at each stage of their daily routine.
Risk Assessment
A detailed assessment of risk that relates to an individual child's needs.
Early years Special Educational Needs Panel Funding review form
We agree Early Years SEN panel funding for a specific length of time and review it so that we can monitor the impact of the funding. Use this to complete and submit a review at the appropriate Early Years SEN panel date set for review.
When we initially agree the funding, we tell the SENCO in writing the date for review.
To review Early years special education needs panel funding, you must fill in and send us the:
- document Early Years SEN panel funding review form (28 KB)
- document updated Individual Provision Plan (33 KB)
- document updated Risk Assessment (50 KB) (if appropriate)
How to send applications and reviews
To return applications or reviews to us you must follow our pdf secure email guidance (235 KB) .
Email completed applications or reviews to earlyyears.senpanel@bristol.gov.uk.
How we assess your application
Panel meetings take place on the second Wednesday of every month from 1.30pm to 4.30pm. You need to make sure you submit your application to reach us by noon on the Wednesday two weeks before.
We'll do our best to let you know the outcome in writing within 2 weeks of the panel meeting taking place.
Application queries
If you have any queries about making an application you can email earlyyears.senpanel@bristol.gov.uk.
What funding is available to all providers offering early education to meet the needs of children with SEND.
SEN support for children in early years should come from a cycle, known as the graduated approach. This means that when you identify a child as needing support to meet their special educational needs, the setting's SENCO should carry out an assessment of their needs.
The SEND Code of Practice says you should agree in consultation with the child's parents:
- how to respond to the child's needs by putting in place interventions and support
- the expected impact on the child's progress
- a clear date for review
The four stages of the graduated approach cycle are:
- assess
- plan
- do
- review
This approach is designed to make sure that providers revisit earlier decisions and actions so that goals can be refined as you get a clearer understanding of the child's needs.
Further information on the Graduated approach.
What funding is available in Early Years
Early years providers can get funding to provide support for children with SEN from:
- universal funding
- targeted funding
- Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel funding
Universal funding
Providers get an amount per hour, per child, which early years settings get whether a child has SEND or not.
Targeted funding
Funding for three and four year olds, based on a deprivation supplement paid for each child depending on their home postcode.
Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel funding
You can apply for Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel funding to support some children with special educational needs.
Apply for early years funding.
The Disability Access Fund
The Disability Access Fund provides an additional £910 each year to help early years providers make adjustments to their settings that support disabled children.
The fund is available to all children who get Disability Living Allowance and go to an early years childcare provider for free education entitlement.
The pdf Disability Access Fund information sheet (239 KB) tells you how to claim this funding.
How we pay Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel funding to a setting
The funding we pay:
- goes directly to the setting where the child is registered
- transfers with the child when they move to a different setting
- can be shared across each setting if the child goes to more than one place while taking up the 15 hours of funded entitlement
- is extended to cover additional hours for three and four year olds if parents are eligible to claim for a further 15 hours of additional funded entitlement
- is extended to cover additional hours if parents are paying for childcare
How we decide on the appropriate level of funding
We use a banding system called the pdf Early Years Bristol Universal Descriptors (359 KB) to decide what level of funding is appropriate for a child, based on their individual needs.
What free services we provide to support early years practitioners who support children with SEND up to the age of four.
Support
We offer advice and guidance to all providers of early education and childcare. This support includes:
- guidance on good inclusive practice in early years with reference to Bristol’s Ordinarily Available Provision
- providing appropriate support and interventions for individual children’s needs
- developing strategies and targets for individual children
- monitoring and reviewing children’s rate of progress
- providing an awareness of special educational needs processes and procedures
All early years settings get up to six visits each academic year. At the visits there's an opportunity to talk about:
- the early years environment
- staff training needs
- the requirements of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (including following a graduated approach) and how the setting is meeting these
- individual children that a setting has concerns about
We record all visits and identify any areas for development with the setting. We review the areas for development in visits that follow after.
Support for children with a diagnosis of autism
To get support for a child with a diagnosis of autism fill in the Early Years Portage and Inclusion Team Referral Form.
To return the application to us you must follow our pdf secure email guidance (235 KB) .
Email completed applications to earlyyears.sensupport@bristol.gov.uk.
Training
We provide training to:
- special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and other early years practitioners to support and develop their knowledge of SEND
- help all those working with children in the early years to create inclusive and effective early learning environments
Portage home visiting service for families
We offer a home visiting educational and support service called portage for children from birth to five years old with SEND.
How to refer
We accept referrals from:
- parents
- professionals
Fill in the document Early Years Portage and Inclusion Team Referral Form (130 KB) .
To return the application to us you must follow our pdf secure email guidance (235 KB) .
Email completed applications to earlyyears.sensupport@bristol.gov.uk.
Contact
If you have any queries about the Early Years Portage and Inclusion Service you can email earlyyears.sensupport@bristol.gov.uk.
What early years settings have to do when working through the four stages of the graduated approach to give a child the special educational provision they need.
Identifying and deciding if a child has special educational needs or a disability
Practitioners working with young children should be alert to emerging needs and respond early. All early years providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND.
pdf Guidance on developing your SEND Offer (41 KB)
You can use the following to help you identify special educational needs:
- the Healthy Child Programme progress check at age two
- Early Years Outcomes
- progress reviews
- formative assessment and observations
- listening to parents or carers' concerns
- observations from the SENCO
Using these assessments and observations, you need to:
- decide if there is cause for concern about a child's progress
- identify if a child's development is behind expected levels for their age
It's essential there is no delay in making special educational provision. Early action is critical to a child's future progress.
Where you identify that a child has additional or special educational needs, you must work in partnership with the child's parents to establish the right level of support.
You should use a graduated approach with four stages of action:
- assess
- plan
- do
- review
The stages of the Graduated Approach cycle
Assess
The early years practitioner works together with a child's parents and the setting's SENCO to assess a child's needs. They should regularly assess the child to make sure the right support can be put into place.
Where the child makes little or no progress, specialist assessment from outside professionals may be needed.
Where outside professionals are not already working with the setting, the SENCO discusses this with the child's parents to get their agreement.
Plan
The child's parents, key person and SENCO agree:
- outcomes they are seeking for the child
- interventions and support to be put in place
- how they expect the interventions to impact upon the child's progress
- a review date
Interventions should:
- be strategies and support provided by practitioners with the relevant skills
- include a range of learning opportunities and differentiated activities to meet the outcomes identified for the child
All information should be captured in a Bristol SEND Support Plan, which includes a section on agreed outcomes and an individual provision plan.
Do
The practitioner, usually the child's key person, is responsible for supporting the child each day and putting in place the agreed interventions.
The setting's SENCO should:
- support the key person in assessing the child's response to the actions
- provide advice on how to put the interventions in place effectively
Review
The setting works with the child's parents to:
- review the child's progress in line with the agreed date
- evaluate the impact and quality of support
- agree any changes to the outcomes, depending on the child's progress
If outside professionals are involved they should also be invited to attend regular reviews.
Involving specialists
You should use the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review' graduated approach to meeting children's needs as a continuous cycle. If a child isn't making expected progress despite interventions matched to their needs, consider involving specialists, if they're not already involved.
You should make this decision in partnership with the child's parents.
Additional funding
You should consider if your setting will need additional support so that you can meet the child's needs and how this might be provided. You might need to apply for Early Years Special Educational Needs Panel funding.
Education, health and care (EHC) plans
If the child continues to make limited progress over a sustained period time, a setting should consider making an application for an EHC needs assessment.
You should discuss this with the child's parents and all professionals involved in the child's support.
Further information
Page 10 of 15
- Schools, learning and early years
- School admissions
- School closures
- Find a school
- School term and holiday dates
- Early years and childcare
- Special educational needs and disability
- Education outside mainstream schools
- Free school meals and school travel support
- Adult courses and learning
- Information for young people in Bristol
- Children in care or previously looked after children
- Governing schools and academies
- What the council spends on schools
- Complain about a school