Early Years Area SENCO

The Early Years Area Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) service provides specialist advice and support to staff in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) pre-school sector.

They also provide support to setting staff, and to childminders who receive Early Years Free Entitlement Funding.

Services are free.

Services available

The Early Years SENCO offers a range of services.

Training and drop-in sessions

The team provides training on SEND topics such as:

• SENCO induction
• Autism
• Attention Autism
• Promoting Positive Behaviour

They provide online drop-in sessions for SENCOs to discuss any queries they may have and to offer short training sessions on SEND topics.

Support to setting staff

Following the triage of referrals into the Early Years team, the Early Years SENCO can offer support to setting staff for individual children. This can include:

• observations
• play-based assessments
• consultations with staff and parents to discuss the child in more detail, discuss outcomes and support required
• training and modelling of strategies and interventions

They also support settings:

• to ensure EHCP is implemented appropriately
• through the first EHPC annual review

Promoting and advocating for early years

The team organises and facilitates 2 Early Years SENCO network meetings every term.

They sit on early years panels and forums within the council to promote and advocate this area. This includes the Early Years Support Panel where they discuss the support available for pre-school children identified as having SEND.

Early Years Inclusion Funding

The team considers applications for Early Years Inclusion Funding and decides whether or not this is awarded.

Who is eligible for support

The Early Years Area SENCO service is available to:

• private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings
• school nursery classes
• childminders registered for Early Years Free Entitlement Funding in Wokingham Borough

The service is also available to PVI early years providers in other boroughs if they have a child at their setting who lives in the Wokingham Borough.

As part of the graduated approach, practitioners are expected to complete a range of national and standardised assessments and implement a range of strategies before requesting support from the Early Years Area SENCO team.

Find out more about the graduated approach on SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years on GOV.UK.

How to access the service

Referrals can be made by:

• any maintained nursery or pre-school for children living in the Wokingham borough
• childminders registered for free entitlement funding
• Early Years Support Panel

Settings can request support from the Early Years team by submitting an Early Years SEND support form. To download the form visit Special Educational Needs and Inclusion on the Wokingham Schools Hub website.

All requests to work with individual children must come with a signed parental consent form.

What happens next

The team will assess the request for support and allocate a date for intervention. The date may be several weeks later.

Contact the Early Years Area SENCO team

Get in touch if you have a question about the service.

Phone: 0118 237 9113, Monday to Thursday, term time only

Email: CSEPA-EducationalPsychologyAdmin@wokingham.gov.uk

How to make a complaint

We would like to hear from you if you have feedback about our service. Get in touch by email: CSEPA-EducationalPsychologyAdmin@wokingham.gov.uk 

If something has gone wrong or you are not happy with our service, you can make a complaint.