Message from EY SEND Lead Teacher Tina Arterton
Hi everyone, welcome to the start of the new academic year! As I said at the last SENCo briefing, on the second Monday of each month eLearning would be updated with information relating to SEND. This will mean that you will only need to check once a month for updates. This will be another busy year with a few changes to way the Early Years SEND Team are working so it will be important for you to check the platform regularly and then disseminate any relevant information to your Manager or staff.
Contacting the Early Years Team
From the beginning of this term, each setting will be assigned to an Early Years SEND Practitioner – they will be contacting you this term and arranging to come into your setting to meet you and your staff. They will then give you their contact details so that if you have any issues regarding specific children with SEND then you will be able to contact them to discuss this in more detail. Please remember that unless you are on Egress then your emails will not be secure and thus should not contain any confidential information.
Big Builders and Little Builders
These programmes are once again running this term – and a few groups continued over the summer. Once families have completed this termly programme if the children are attending nursery or are due to start then a member of the Early Years Team will be in touch to offer feedback.
Training Dates
Thursday 1st November – 9.30 – 2.30 at GW – Role of SENCo training.
This is a full days training for those new to the role.
Monday 5th November – 9.30-2.30 – Using Resources to support children with SEND.
This is for SENCos or Practitioners and will show you how everyday items can be used to support children in a variety of activities. Please note this is a repeat training session so if you have already attended as SENCo you may suggest a member of your team attends.
If you would like to book a place please contact Tina Newman on 01634 334016 or tina.newman@medway.gov.uk. We will be limiting delegates one per setting but Tina will keep a waiting list should you want another member of staff to attend.
Disability Access Funding (DAF)
If you are supporting a child who is over 3 years who is in receipt of their NEG funding and receives Disability Living Allowance (DLA), you will be able to claim for DAF funding which is £615. The forms for submitting this request can be found on eLearning in the DAF folder.
Additional Funding
A reminder that if you are submitting a request for Additional Funding then this should be sent directly to the SEN team. Once you have submitted your application if you have any queries then please contact Jackie Andrew on 01634 337177. Once funding has been agreed, if it is SIF then queries should be directed to Julia Hanks on 01634 331194 and High Needs Funding queries should be directed to Tim Macklin on 01634 331185.
Requests for an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan
If you have been working with a family and are making a request for an EHC then this should be sent to the SEN team and any queries relating to this should be directed to Jackie Andrew on 337177.
If you have any general queries, relating to working with or supporting children with SEND then you can contact Tina Newman on 334016.