Our SEND Local Offer
Little Learners Nursery is situated at Wilson Marriage Adult Community Learning in Colchester. It provides quality childcare for babies and children of learners at ACL along with children from the local community.
The nursery is open Monday- Friday 9.00am- 3.30pm and offers morning, afternoon or all-day sessions. It has an open plan playroom with a maximum of 24 children per day.
The nursery manager Madeline Boyle is also the SENDCo (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Co-ordinator) at Little Learners.
How Little Learners identify your child’s needs and support your child
When a child initially starts with us, we provide settling in sessions where the parent will stay and play for a short period and together with the child’s key person, they’ll complete a “My story at home” for them. This allows the key person to familiarise themselves with the child’s individual needs, interests, and care routines. Some children need one or two settling in sessions and others require many more. We look at children needs individually because every child is an individual.
Every child has a key person, with a buddy person for when they’re absent. This has the flexibility to change if a child forms an attachment with another practitioner.
Usually in the first 6 weeks we will have ascertained a starting point of your child’s development, this is shared with you and discussed with the key person. Children each have their own learning journey which includes a range of observations and photos of them learning through play within the nursery. These include comments and interests from parents/carers at home. The key person will complete 2-year-old assessment check when the child reaches this age and will identify any gaps or cause for concern and discuss this with parents and the setting SENco so we can decide on the best form of intervention or next steps.
Every child’s development is monitored using developmental milestones every 6 months. Any gaps in attainment are addressed individually.
The SENDco will work closely with the key person to support and help differentiate activities and resources to support each child. They will liaise with other professionals who may be needed to gain further advice in supporting each individual child. The SENDco and the key person will work together to implement targets and strategies with a One Plan. This will be regularly reviewed, and the parents will be kept updated and involved.
Our Accessible Environment
At Little Learners we follow ‘In the Moment Planning’ and as part of this it’s paramount that we have an enabling environment so children can access and choose whatever they would like to enable the deep level engagement.
The nursery is wheelchair accessible from all entrances and exits. There is a bathroom with 3 toilets, one for adults and two smaller child friendly size. There are also changing facilities available. The centre has adult disabled toilet facilities next to the nursery.
At Little Learners we are culturally diverse and inclusive to all our families. We label all our resources for the children’s early literacy skills and for them to understand that everything has a home. We include labels in a range of languages. We also have a range of books with different languages.
Staff will try to greet parents and children who speak English as an additional language in their home language in order to promote a good and positive relationship.
The Outdoor Environment has foam tiles to support the younger children who are learning to walk or a little wobbly on their feet. The outside area offers a range of resources covering all areas of learning. Children can transport toys and resources in the inside and outside environment. We have an accessible growing garden just outside the nursery, safely fenced of for children to get closure to nature, grow and harvest vegetables.
Supporting with Transitions
All keypersons ensure that transitions are well planned and supported. This may include a trip to their new school, visits from their new teachers, and the school SENco. We have ’PE kits’ to support the children with dressing and undressing independently. We take them to the centre café (An old school dinner hall) for their lunch in the term before they leave for school to give them the experience of eating lunch in a school. Our ‘dressing up’ area has plenty of school uniforms for them to wear. A transition passport is made for every child informing their school of their interests, individual needs and where they are developing within each area of learning.