From Carrie White, Early Years SEND Lead Teacher

Well, we have nearly reached a year since the country first went into lockdown and what a year it has been.  A huge thank you to each and every one of you for looking after the children in your settings.  You are all doing an amazing job.

EY SENCo Cluster briefing 2^nd of March 2021

We will be holding a virtual cluster briefing on Tuesday, 2^nd March 2021, between 10 am and 12 noon via Microsoft Teams.  During this session there will be some time to discuss how settings are recovering from the COVID period, personal well-being, and a chance to network with colleagues.  All members of the EY SEND Team will be in attendance.

EY SEN Training:

We are offering the following training via Microsoft Teams:

Role of SENCO Friday 26^th February 9:30-10:30

The EHCP process Friday 26^th February 11:00-12:00

Behaviour that Challenges Thursday 29^th April 10:30-11:30

Early Communication Strategies Tuesday 11^th May 10:30-11:30

If you would like to book onto any of the training courses above or the SENCO briefing, please email Tina Newman at tina.newman@medway.gov.uk with your SENCo’s name/name of the staff attending and the email address to be used to join the session. As with the other sessions we’ve offered, the email address will be added on to a Microsoft Teams group which could be seen by other delegates and other EY SEND Team members.

There is also a free webinar from the Anna Freud centre

https://www.annafreud.org/training/training-and-conferences-overview/online-conferences-webinars-and-events/early-years-webinar-managing-challenging-behaviour-in-early-years-settings/

COVID

If you have positive cases within your setting, please contact the Family Information Service (FIS) on 01634 332195 and report how many positive staff you have and how many positive children.  Please also indicate when you expect to open.  Thank you.

PPE

The Early Years sufficiency team have sent emails to the management teams within all settings regarding the ordering for PPE through Medway Council.  Orders can be collected from The Brook Theatre following an email to say your order has arrived.  You will need to bring identification.

SENCO surgeries

When we book SENCO surgeries with you, we are aware that you have lots of different activities that you are asked to do.  As much as possible, please may we ask that you ensure you are able to focus on the children and the discussion with your EY SEND Practitioner.  If there is a reason you are not able to do this when we call - for example staff shortages - then please let your EY SEND Practitioner know and we can arrange another date and time for the discussion.