Supporting Every Child
At East Dene Primary School, we are ambitious for every child. We recognise that children begin their Early Years journey with different experiences, strengths and needs, and we are committed to ensuring that every child is able to belong, participate, achieve and flourish.
Our approach is built around knowing children exceptionally well, identifying needs at the earliest opportunity and providing the right support at the right time. We maintain high expectations for all children and seek to understand and remove any barriers that may prevent them from accessing learning, making progress or thriving.
Early Identification of Need
Our approach to identifying and meeting children’s needs begins before they even join us.
Through our carefully planned transition process, we work closely with families, previous settings and other professionals to develop an early understanding of each child’s strengths, interests, development, experiences and any additional needs or potential barriers to learning.
Where a need has already been identified, this information enables us to plan proactively. Appropriate adaptations, resources, support and transition arrangements can be put in place before the child starts, ensuring that practitioners are prepared and children receive the support they need from the very beginning.
Once children join us, early identification continues through high-quality interactions, observation, assessment and ongoing conversations with families. Practitioners quickly build a detailed understanding of children’s individual starting points and recognise emerging needs or gaps in knowledge and skills.
Where concerns arise, we work closely with families, our SENDCo and, where appropriate, other professionals to understand the child’s needs more fully. We take prompt and highly effective action, ensuring that support is carefully matched to the child and reviewed to establish the difference it is making.
An Inclusive and Ambitious Curriculum
Our Early Years provision is designed to be inclusive and ambitious for all children, including children with SEND, disadvantaged children, children learning English as an additional language, children known or previously known to children’s social care and children experiencing other barriers to their learning or wellbeing.
Practitioners make thoughtful adaptations to teaching, interactions, communication, resources, routines and the learning environment so that children can participate meaningfully in learning alongside their peers.
Adaptation does not mean lowering expectations. We consider what each individual child needs in order to succeed and make the necessary adjustments while remaining ambitious about the progress they can make from their starting points.
Skilled and Knowledgeable Practitioners
Our practitioners’ expertise is central to providing high-quality support. Our Early Years team has accessed a wide range of specialist SEND training and continuing professional development, including Attention Autism, the Curiosity Programme, TAC PAC, Intensive Interaction, identifying and supporting autism in the EYFS, and Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) training.
This specialist knowledge enables staff to recognise children’s needs, understand the possible barriers they face and draw upon a broad range of approaches when deciding how best to support them.
Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, practitioners use their professional knowledge and understanding of the individual child to select precise strategies, adaptations and interventions that respond to identified need.
Personalised Support and Intervention
Where additional support is required, it is purposeful, targeted and personalised.
Assessment and practitioners’ knowledge of the child are used to identify what will make the greatest difference. This may include adaptations to everyday teaching and provision, targeted adult support, specialist approaches or interventions, or advice from other professionals.
Interventions have a clear purpose linked to an identified need. We regularly review their impact, considering whether they are removing barriers, developing important knowledge and skills and enabling children to make meaningful progress. This ensures that decisions about what happens next are informed by the difference the support is actually making.
Personalised Curriculum for Children with Significant Needs
For some children with significant or complex needs, accessing the usual curriculum and timetable may not provide them with everything they need to make meaningful progress.
Where appropriate, these children have their own personalised curriculum and timetable, carefully designed around their developmental stage, strengths, individual needs and priorities.
This enables practitioners to provide the precise teaching, communication support, interventions, sensory experiences and opportunities that will make the greatest difference to the individual child. Children continue to have meaningful opportunities to learn, play,
communicate and build relationships alongside their peers, while also receiving the highly individualised support they need.
Our expectations remain ambitious. Personalisation enables us to prioritise the knowledge and skills that will have the greatest impact on each child’s communication, development, independence, participation and future learning.
Supporting Children Learning English as an Additional Language
We value and celebrate the languages, cultures and experiences that children and their families bring to our Early Years.
Children learning English as an additional language are supported through high-quality interactions, rich language experiences, carefully modelled vocabulary, visual support, stories, songs, rhymes and meaningful opportunities for conversation and play.
We recognise that children’s knowledge and communication extend beyond what they can currently express in English. We therefore work closely with families to understand children’s communication and development, value their home language and ensure that children are able to demonstrate what they know and can do.
Working in Partnership
Families know their children best and are an essential part of identifying and meeting children’s needs. We develop open and trusting relationships with parents and carers from the transition process onwards, encouraging them to share their knowledge, observations, concerns and aspirations for their child.
Where additional support is required, families are involved in identifying priorities, making decisions and reviewing their child’s progress. We recognise that the most effective support is achieved when families, practitioners and professionals work together with a shared understanding of the child and their needs.
We have established strong links with a range of external professionals and specialist services, including Portage, the Child Development Centre (CDC), the Specialist Inclusion Team and Rotherham Early Years. Where appropriate, we work collaboratively with these services to seek specialist advice, develop practitioners’ understanding and ensure that children’s individual needs are identified and supported effectively.
Advice from external professionals is not considered in isolation. It is used to inform children’s everyday teaching, adaptations, interventions and personalised provision, helping to provide a coordinated and consistent approach to support.
Making a Difference
We do not judge the quality of additional support by how much provision a child receives. What matters is the difference it makes.
We continually evaluate the impact of our teaching, adaptations, interventions and personalised provision, particularly for children who experience barriers to their learning or wellbeing. This enables practitioners and leaders to identify what is working, respond quickly where further action is needed and continually refine provision.
By combining early identification, high expectations, skilled practitioners, precise support and strong partnerships, our aim is to make a significant and lasting difference to children’s learning, development and wellbeing, enabling every child to achieve and flourish and become exceptionally well prepared for their next steps.