From Carrie White, Early Years Lead SEND Teacher

Following on from the Prime Minister’s announcements, lots of you will have opened your doors to welcome your children back to setting which must be a great feeling. However, I am aware that there are certain reservations about whether this is the right time.  Each setting needs to look at what is best for them on an individual basis and make their own choices.  The Early Years SEND team is here to support you with children who are coming back to settings which look very different to those they left in March.  The children you are receiving back will also be very different from those you said goodbye to;  they will have learned new things, developed in different ways and will be ready to take on the next challenges you have for them.  Children are by nature very resilient and so we should assume most children will take the return to settings in their stride.  If you do have some children who are struggling with the return and you wish to talk to your EY SEND practitioner then please do contact the team.

Stay safe and thank you for all you are doing to provide for our youngest children.

Carrie

Transition

In our May bulletin we highlighted the different transition points that we are expecting this year.  We are now beginning to look at those children who will join school in September.  The transition booklets have been sent again via email for you to use - they are also available to be downloaded from the site news. We are asking if this year you could return a copy of the SEND transition booklet to your EY SEND practitioner in order for us to keep in case schools contact the team in the future asking about the support the children have had via pre-school or the team through our groups.  We want to ensure a smooth transition for all children especially as lots of children have spent the last few weeks at home. If unsure about which EY SEND Practitioner is assigned to your setting, please ring Tina Newman at 01634 334016.

Education, Health Care plan applications

Please email Tina Newman at tina.newman@medway.gov.uk to request the most recent documents when thinking about submitting a request for an EHCP assessment.  This way we know you have the correct form, but it also allows our team to write a report if the child is known to us.  The panel is still meeting each week to decide if an assessment is needed and the assessments are still being carried out. 

If you would like your EY SEND practitioner to read through the application before it is submitted, then send it to them via email and they will give you feedback before it goes to panel.

SENIF

You are still able to apply for SENIF via the normal processes.  As of April 2020, it was decided that any new funding agreed would only be paid once the children were attending setting.  All funding agreed prior to that would still be paid.  Please send applications and invoices through to Julia Hanks for processing.

Educational Psychologist Webinars

The Educational Psychology team at Medway have been running some very informative webinars over the past few weeks.  They have one coming up with the title Supporting Emotions through Play.  Please see the attached flyer with details of the webinar and how to book onto it.

Medway Children’s Healthcare update

Currently the team at Snapdragons are not accepting referrals but the administration team are on site and able to answer the phone if you have specific enquiries about referrals you made prior to lockdown.  The team at Snapdragons do not currently have a date for when they will be reopening for referrals.  I am in contact with the team and as you can imagine they are extremely busy planning their reopening.  As soon as I have further information, I will of course share it with you via our bulletin.