Home Equality and Inclusion SEND Code of Practice Early Years Guidance

SEND Code of Practice Early Years Guidance

The SEND Code of Practice (2015) (SENDCOP) is statutory guidance for organisations that work with and support children and young people with SEND. It sets out the roles and responsibilities, policies and procedures for Local Authorities, School governing bodies, Academies and Early Years Providers in the maintained and private, voluntary and independent sectors.

All Early Years settings that are funded by the local authority are required to have due regard to the SEND COP 2015, Equality Act & EYFS 2012 (Special Provision under Section 21 of the Children and Families Act 2014).

The EYFS framework requires all early years providers to have arrangements in place for meeting the needs of children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) through the Graduated Response.

Those in group provision are expected to identify a SENCO and all settings should adopt a graduated approach with four stage of action: assess, plan, do and review.

The role of the SENCO involves:

Ensuring all practitioners in the setting understand their responsibilities to children with SEN and the setting's approach to identifying and meeting SEN
Advising and supporting colleagues
Ensuring parents are closely involved throughout and that their insights inform action taken by the setting, and
Liaising with professionals or agencies beyond the setting

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires the local authority, schools and Early Years settings to publish information about the educational provision that is available to children and young people with SEND. For Nottingham City this directory of information can be found at Ask Lion

To support this requirement Nottingham City, settings and other partners worked together to develop Provision Maps for Early Years Settings to reflect the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the SEND COP 2015.

Local Authorities must ensure that all providers delivering funded early education places meet the needs of children with SEN and children with disabilities by ensuring funding arrangements for early education reflect the need to provide suitable support for these children.

Providers should consider how best to use their resources to support the progress of children with SEND and the Early Years SEND Fund and Disability Access Funding (DAF) could help with this.

EHCP's brings together all of the services that currently support families in a joined-up way.

The EHCP provides the same statutory protection as the Statement of Special Educational Needs and covers people from birth up to the age of 25, extending the rights and protections of young people in further education and training.

The EHCP has an assessment period of 20 weeks and all information is shared so families and young people won't have to repeat the same information to different agencies, putting children, families and young people at the centre of the assessment and planning process.

Information on the Statutory Assessment Process and Useful Information:

Education and Health Care Needs Assessment - Request Form

Education and Health Care Needs Assessment - Guidance for Settings and Schools

Education and Health Care Needs Assessment - Stage 2 Guidance for Settings and Schools