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Help for early years providers : Using the assessment tools

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Help for early years providers : Using the assessment tools

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Early years child development training : Home page

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Special Education Needs Inclusion Fund (SENIF) Summative IMPACT Review Form (2025-26 AcadY)

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Special Education Needs Inclusion Fund (SENIF) Summative IMPACT Review Form (2025-26 AcadY)

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What does bilingualism do to the brain? Are there benefits to being bilingual? Turns out there are some surprising upsides.

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Summer 2026 SENCo Forum Presentation - 19.05.26

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Multi-Lingual Children and the ShREC Approach 

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Multi-Lingual Children and the ShREC Approach 

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Skip to main navigation Skip to main content

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Communication and Interaction

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Communication and Interaction

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Equality Act 2010: Reasonable Adjustments Training Modules

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Equality Act 2010: Reasonable Adjustments Training Modules

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Guide and training package for early years providers on the disability duties in the Equality Act

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On Tuesday 8 July 2025, the Council for Disabled Children launched a new guide for early years providers that explains the disability duties in the Equality Act. Alongside the guide is a training package to support early years practitioners in applying the learning from the guide in their own setting.

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Cognition and Learning 

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Cognition and Learning 

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Sensory and Physical 

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Sensory and Physical 

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Social and Emotional 

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SEND Assessment Guidance: Social and Emotional 

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HF SLCN Training Offer Spring Term Training Calendar 2026 School Copy (003)

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EYFS Communication and Language Strategy

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New to and Refresh for Early Years SENCo

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Phase Transfer Support 2025_26 FINAL SUMMARY

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A Case Study: Multi lingual Learners and the ShREC Approach

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A Case Study: Multi lingual Learners and the ShREC Approach

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Using ShREC with multilingual learners: How Alex responds when Aditah speaks Bangla to her

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How do you react when a child uses a language you don’t understand?

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Information and guidance on the Equality Act 2010, including age discrimination and the Public Sector Equality Duty.

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Get the highest quality CPD from experts at your convenience, with nasen's SEND CPD on Demand - The ultimate flexible training resource.

With individual and school subscriptions starting at just £199, boost your learning with convenient access to over 70 pre-recorded SEND CPD sessions tailored to meet the needs of the entire education workforce.

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Get the highest quality CPD from experts at your convenience, with nasen's SEND CPD on Demand - The ultimate flexible training resource. With individual and school subscriptions starting at just £199, boost your learning with convenient access to over 70 pre-recorded SEND CPD sessions tailored to meet the needs of the entire education workforce.

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nasen House
4/5 Amber Business Village
Amber Close
Amington
Tamworth
Staffordshire
B77 4RP

Tel: 01827 311500
Email: welcome@nasen.org.uk

Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 16:00

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nasen House 4/5 Amber Business Village Amber Close Amington Tamworth Staffordshire B77 4RP Tel: 01827 311500 Email: welcome@nasen.org.uk Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday 09:00 - 17:00 Friday 09:00 - 16:00

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The UK's leading magazine for special educational needs.

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Welcome to SENDCO Solutions, where expertise meets excellence in special educational needs support. Led by Abigail Hawkins, a seasoned SEN specialist with over 25 years of experience as a SENCO, our company is dedicated to ensuring that your school and staff stay fully compliant with the SEND Code of Practice while effectively addressing SEN challenges.

Abigail, renowned as both the "SENSible SENCO" on social media and the "SENDCOs SENDCO" in publications, possesses a unique ability to solve complex SEN issues while maintaining strict adherence to legal requirements. With her at the helm, we provide comprehensive guidance and support to SENCOs, governors, heads, and senior leadership teams in developing their school's SEN program.

At SENDCO Solutions, we understand that each school is unique and requires a tailored approach to SEN provision. Our flagship service, the Whole School SEN Review, offers a thorough evaluation of your school's current SEN practices and provides detailed recommendations for future development. We are frequently commissioned to deliver keynote speeches, CPD training sessions, and comprehensive SEN review packages for schools, local authorities, and multi-academy trusts.

In addition to supporting schools, SENDCO Solutions also collaborates with educational companies to develop and promote SEN products that have a meaningful impact on the targeted student population. Our expertise extends beyond the educational sector, as we have successfully assisted non-educational settings in crafting robust inclusion policies. Furthermore, we take pride in our partnership with United Learning, where we have played a pivotal role in creating one of the most esteemed teaching assistant apprenticeship programs available.

By choosing SENDCO Solutions, you are investing in a wealth of experience, knowledge, and a commitment to ensuring that every child receives the support they deserve. Together, let's navigate the intricate landscape of SEN provision, embracing compliance, and empowering excellence in education.

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sendcosolutions.co.uk | Making SENse of SEN

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Welcome to SENDCO Solutions, where expertise meets excellence in special educational needs support. Led by Abigail Hawkins, a seasoned SEN specialist with over 25 years of experience as a SENCO, our company is dedicated to ensuring that your school and staff stay fully compliant with the SEND Code of Practice while effectively addressing SEN challenges.

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The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity - an integrated health and education service.

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A one stop (free) shop of all the resources you lovely SENCOs need to get started in your roles.

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Teach Kids to Manage Big Feelings Through Effective Social Emotional Learning

Over 80% of U.S. public schools reported in 2022 on the negative impact of the pandemic on child well-being and self-regulation. Kids are:

Struggling to manage their feelings and mental health

More disruptive in the classroom

Needing additional social, emotional, and behavioral support

(source: National Center for Education Statistics)

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The Zones of Regulation is a complete social-emotional learning curriculum, created to teach children self-regulation and emotional control.

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Alison Knowles, author of the series of Ollie and his Super Powers children’s books and creator of the Ollie model is the joint owner of Subconquest Ltd which provides group coaching and individual therapy designed specifically for your needs, specialising in working with children. Subconquest also trains and manages Ollie Coaches across the UK.

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Development of Speech and Language - Summary Table

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Podcast · Dale Pickles · The SENDcast is a weekly podcast focusing on Special Educational Needs, it is an amazing way to keep up to date with all the different areas within SEN, best practices and to improve your knowledge around SEND.

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Getting your class to behave - Georgina Durrant in conversation with Sue Cowley

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Podcast · Georgina Durrant · This podcast hosted by Georgina Durrant is all about teaching and supporting children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). We aim to share the amazing things that our guests are doing to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEND).*This Podcast is proudly brought to you by the SEND team at Twinkl. Please bear in mind, the views and opinions expressed are those of individuals, and may not represent those of Twinkl.

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How to focus assessment on the children who need it most - Julian Grenier | The Famly Interview

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Supporting Transitions and one page profiles

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Supporting Transitions and one page profiles

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What makes an environment 'enabling'?

An enabling environment is a rich and varied space where risks are minimised and well managed, and children are protected from harm and abuse.

To help ensure your environment is enabling, follow this checklist:

Create an environment that is warm, welcoming and nurturing and facilitates a sense of belonging

Offer a range of resources, which are familiar to the children and babies, as well as activities that are new to them

Ensure that the activities and environment offer room for outdoor and indoor play, sufficient space for children to move and collaborate, and encourage exploration and risk-taking

Provide a range of activities which serve different purposes: inspire imagination and role play, exploration of personal relationships and feelings, problem solving, quiet time and reflection. Consider having a construction area, home corner, various toys and books, storytelling times, music and art

Ensure the activities and environment meet the needs of all the children who attend, from very young babies to older children

Consider how you can ensure all children feel welcomed and valued. Some ideas include fostering close collaboration with parents by including family photos on display boards, singing songs sung in the family home, and providing a comfortable welcoming area with places for a parent to sit with staff and their child

Pay close attention to individual children. Consider: What are they interested in and how you could incorporate this into your play environment? How can you help them communicate better? When are they ready to play and ready for rest? When are they intrinsically motivated to learn? How can they have choice and control? Is the environment meeting their individual needs?

Ensure staff understand the importance of building warm and supportive relationships and the importance of nurturing a child's development

Ensure activities and resources are at child height and accessible and use resources which can be moved and used in a variety of ways

Allow children the time and space to focus and reduce noise distractions

Involve children in making the setting's ground rules for behaviour, and creating the behavioural codes of practice, involving them as much as possible

Engage children in activities to build their emotional resilience and social skills

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What makes an environment 'enabling'? An enabling environment is a rich and varied space where risks are minimised and well managed, and children are protected from harm and abuse.

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Help! I need to do a risk assessment - PACEY

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“How do I do a risk assessment?” is a question that’s often asked by those starting a career in early years and childcare.

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Find out how at Sense, we use a total communication approach that supports people to connect in the right way for each individual.

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Creating a good communication environment

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Creating a good communication environment

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Adapting your home for deaf children | Audio visual conditions

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Get tips and advice on creating a good audio visual environment in your home - and best practice around speaking and listening to best support your deaf child

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What do we mean by listening conditions?

We mean an environment (like your home) where the listening conditions (or acoustics) are at their optimum level so that your child has the best chance to access sound and develop their listening and language skills. For example, good listening conditions would mean there is no background noise or it's reduced.

Why are listening conditions important for deaf children?

Unlike hearing children, deaf children find it difficult to filter sounds so any background noise is going to get mixed in with what your child is trying to listen to and make understanding speech harder for them. For example, if they wear hearing aids or implants, it makes all sounds in that room louder (the tv, people talking, plates clattering) as well as the sound they're trying to listen to (mum reading them a story). Think about how hard it can be to have a conversation in a busy restaurant, for example. So having a quiet environment in the home where you can talk and play helps to develop their understanding of sounds and language.

As your child gets older and starts nursery or school, a quiet environment will become much more difficult to achieve and this sudden change can be very challenging. This listening conditions of a school will be very important for your child. School and nursery classrooms can also be very noisy.

Why are listening conditions important to learning?

At school, children can spend much of the day just listening, so good conditions are essential for all children to access teaching and learning and be fully included in school life. Research has shown that there is a link between attainment and good acoustics for both deaf and hearing pupils - and poor classroom acoustics can be particularly challenging for children with glue ear or a permanent hearing loss.

Poor acoustics can also make it difficult for deaf children to make the best use of their hearing aids and cochlear implants, as they make all noises in the classroom louder, not just the teacher's voice. These noises can drown out the teacher and may mean that the child misses much of the lesson.

For a child to understand what is being spoken, the teacher's voice needs to be louder than the background noise. If the classroom is too noisy most teachers will have difficulty speaking loud enough to enable good understanding. As adults, because of our knowledge of language, we are able to fill in the gaps where we haven't heard the full message. Children have a more limited language and are therefore less able to fill in the gaps.

In addition, many classrooms produce an echo effect which prolongs sounds, making listening more difficult. Echo occurs when the sound from the source has stopped, but reverberations from the sound continue in the room. If the surfaces in the room are hard then the sound may bounce around the room, arriving at the child's ear at different times and making it difficult to listen to the message. If we can make the surfaces more absorbent of sound this can help reduce the echo.

Find out what a noisy classroom sounds like to deaf children.

What should I look at before my child starts nursery or school?

Make sure you visit the school or nursery during an ordinary working day so you can hear for yourself how noisy it is when all the children are in.

Talk to staff about any quiet areas that are used for small group or individual work.

Talk to staff about how much of the day is formally teacher-led, such as story time, when the general background noise would be less.

Find out if there's any technology that could help your child, such as radio aids or soundfield systems.

Make sure that the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) (additional learning needs co-ordinator in Scotland) and teacher have been told of your child's hearing loss and that the school and local authority are aware of any possible modifications that would have to be made.

Ask about support available from the Teacher of the Deaf to ensure rooms are good listening environments and that your child has the necessary support.

What can be done to improve the listening conditions at my child's school?

Under the Equality Act 2010 (or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland), schools and nurseries have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled pupils are not disadvantaged because of their disability. Schools also have to plan better access for disabled pupils. This includes improving the physical environment of the school such as improving acoustics.

For more information on your child's rights go to The Equality Act and your child's education.

Examples of reasonable adjustments, and simple cost-effective improvements, that could be made to classrooms include:

Making sure doors are shut when teaching

Turning off electrical equipment that is not being used

Using fabric in classroom wall and table displays to absorb sound

Fixing plastic buffers on chair or table legs to reduce the noise of scraping chairs

Suspending displays from the ceiling to reduce reverberation

Having as many carpeted areas as possible

Fitting double glazing

Fitting specialists acoustic boarding to ceiling or walls.

Are you worried about the listening conditions at your child's school?

Does your child come home from school or nursery often complaining that the class is too noisy, and that they cannot hear their teacher or friends?

Ask your child how well they can hear what their teacher and friends are saying.

Ask whether they have more problems in one classroom or area than another.

Does your child report that other children in her class cannot hear what the teacher is saying?

Have you sought views from your child on the listening conditions at their school? Have a look at some example pupil interview surveys

If further improvements are needed or you have any concerns, you could consider:

Talking to your local Teacher of the Deaf about advice and support they can offer.

Asking the school or local authority for an acoustic review of the classroom from a professional acoustician. (Your school can locate an acoustician by going to the Institute of Acoustics website or a company which is a member of the Association of Noise Consultants.)

Assistive technologies such as radio aids and soundfield systems can help - but should be additional to, not instead of good acoustics.

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Improving listening conditions | Reducing background noise

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It can be difficult for deaf children to filter out background noise if they wear hearing aids or have implants and schools have a duty to make adjustments to acoustics

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Services and the support for children and young people, up to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities and their families.

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The Hammersmith and Fulham Learning Partnership

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You are one click away from networking with other professionals at our development sessions. Learn More Here

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Early years child development training : Home page

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Foundation Years - Latest news, policy and resources for early years professionals

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The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework is mandatory for all early years settings. It sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well, and are kept healthy and safe.

This page explains why changes to the EYFS safeguarding requirements will be made, what you need to do and includes resources to help you communicate the changes.

Why the changes will be made

The Department for Education (DfE) continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements for early years settings to ensure they are comprehensive and suitably robust to help providers keep children as safe as possible.

A consultation on proposals to strengthen the EYFS safeguarding requirements was held between 22 April and 17 June 2024, with 1470 responses received. There was strong support from respondents for all of the EYFS changes, with clear consensus that these will improve children's safety and align with current best practice in early years settings.

The consultation showed that early years providers have excellent practices in place to keep children safe and many are already carrying out the upcoming changes in their settings. The safeguarding reforms will formalise existing best practice in the sector and ensure that all educators have the knowledge and support they need to deliver the safest, highest quality early education and childcare provision possible.

What you need to do

From 1 September 2025, all registered early years providers must follow the new EYFS framework. Whatever your role and type of setting you work in, you'll need to be working to the new framework.

Ahead of then, make sure you understand what is changing and how this might impact your practice.

The consultation outcome can be found on the Early years Foundation Stage (EYFS) safeguarding reforms page. This sets out the new EYFS wording and will help you understand the changes you will need to make.

We have also created a Summary of EYFS changes and published a vodcast.

Communicate the changes

You can use our printable poster and information sheet to communicate the

changes to your colleagues. You can download these by clicking on each of the links below.
Poster About the Changes PDF Information sheet About the Changes PDF
Find further support

You may also find it helpful to contact your local authority or support groups to find out what advice they can offer on the changes. Further information and support will be published on the Foundation Years Website. If you aren't already registered you can sign up to receive monthly newsletters, newsflashes, information regarding events being held and vodcasts. Look out for further upcoming communications explaining the changes and supporting the sector with implementation. Help for Early Years Providers also offers guidance for people who work in early years.

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Changes to Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) safeguarding requirements: September 2025 - Foundation Years

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The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework is mandatory for all early years settings. It sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well, and are kept healthy and safe.

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A specialist education teacher working to support non- speaking people that learn through their senses.

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Starting Reception: Transition Guidance 

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Starting Reception: Transition Guidance 

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What should I do if I have concerns about my child's development?

If you're worried about your child's progress, talk to your childminder/nursery/pre-school team, health visitor, local children's centre or Family Hub.

If your child has developmental delays or SEND (suspected or confirmed), speak to their nursery, childminder, or health visitor/nursery/pre-school team well before they start Reception and discuss their needs when you are selecting schools.

You can work with your child's early years setting to help your child with self-care, managing emotions, social skills and communication in a way that suits their stage of development.

​You might want to share details about: their development, needs, what motivates them, what might trigger difficulties, how they learn best, and what strategies work well.

Make sure you share important information with everyone supporting your child, including their new Reception teacher.

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Your child's journey to school starts at home. We understand that all children develop at their own pace, and that we're all learning from birth. When it's time to start school, some children will need more help than others.

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LBHF Progress Review at age Two template

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LBHF Progress Review at age Two template

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Hammersmith and Fulham Two Year Old Progress Review  2026 Draft  Template__ (002)

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Spring 2026 SENCo Forum Presentation - 10.02.26

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Early Years SLT Presentation SENCo Forum 10.02.2026

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Early Years SLT Presentation SENCo Forum 10.02.2026

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Talk for HF  SENCO Forum  10 Feb 2026 (2)

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Emotional Regulation Booklet- Strategies for pre-school and non-verbal children

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Intensive Interaction - central principles

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Early Years Practitioner Tutorials YouTube videos

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The DfE assessment resources provide a suggested way of working when assessing children with SEND in the early years. Whether you are a school-based provider, group-based provider or childminder, these resources can be used to support your children with potential or known SEND. You may want to use everything, or choose which specific elements will be helpful for your setting.

The resources include:

four assessment tools centred around the four broad areas of need

examples of how to use the assessment tools in practice

a one page profile to capture the voice of the child

SMART targets sheet to set short-term targets

support and achievement play plans (SAPPs) to capture a child's long-term goals and needs

The assessment tools

There are four assessment tools, that reflect the four broad areas of need, with a focus on the core skills children with SEND may gain in each area. You can use them at any stage of supporting a child, and they are designed to be used individually or together based on the needs of a child.

The tools may be used in the following way:

1. An area of need is recognised through observation and discussed with the parents and or carers.

2. The appropriate broad area(s) of need is selected from the assessment tools.

3. You use the tool to find out what the child can do in their area of need.

4. You discuss the child's strengths and strategies to support them and note this on a one-page profile with the parents and or carers.

5. You use the assessment tool to outline the initial targets for their child. Using specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) targets you can help a child to make progress towards the assessment statements within the tool.

6. You may want to produce a Support and Achievement Play Plan (SAPP), which will identify long-term goals and record key strategies you may use to support the child. You implement the strategies discussed in practice, noting their impact on the child and how the child engages with your planned support.

7. By the end of the term, or appropriate period, you review the impact of the strategies with the parents and or carers, complete a development monitoring review to determine developmental progress and set out new appropriate targets.

8. Repeat steps 5-7 until you feel support is no longer required or you support the child to transition to their next setting or school.

There may come a time where you feel external specialist support is required. You may refer to your setting or local authority area Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO) for support and guidance or you can directly refer to these services and work with them on any additional support to be implemented. You should only request specialist support when you are satisfied that you have used a graduated approach to understand the child and their needs, and even when they are waiting to be seen you should continue to trial different approaches to support the child.

To strengthen your understanding of how to identify developmental differences and needs and help to consider factors affecting children's development when they access the learning and curriculum on offer, the DfE has developed early years child development training. You can access it for free.

Using the assessment tools

Completing the assessment tool is quick and simple. Each statement is broken down into three levels:

emerging - the child is showing some interest or awareness of this skill.

supported - the child can achieve this skill with support from another (adult or child).

independently - the child can consistently achieve this skill on their own without additional support from an adult or child.

By reading the statements you can make a judgement as to whether you feel the child is not yet showing awareness of this skill, and so leave it unmarked, or determine whether they are emerging (E), supported (S) or independent (I). You can then mark the coordinating letter however you wish (circle, highlight, tick, etc.).

Every time you complete an additional review you should use a different colour to evidence where you feel the child is at that point. We recognise that some children may regress with their development on occasion, and this should also be marked, and appropriate next steps and intervention should be carried out.

The assessment tools promote a positive view of the child by working towards a series of "I can" statements. These are further divided into three sub sections, which allow you to see if there are particular areas of development that may need deeper focus. The statements are organised like building blocks, with the likelihood that the lower blocks are achieved before the higher blocks. However, some children will not progress in this way, and you should not be concerned if you are observing that the higher blocks have been achieved before the lower blocks.

You can also note the types of play you observe from the child to support your decision making in appropriate strategies of support or environmental adjustments you can make to enhance their learning.

Case study

Mary completed the "Sensory and Physical" tool for Abdul, and noted that he is not yet using an open top cup and preferred drinking from a closed 'easy drink' bottle. She circled "E" (emerging) on the statement "I can drink with an open top cup without support". To support him, Mary planned to initially provide Abdul with a slanted, 2 handled drinks cup, alongside his favourite bottle, which gave him the access to an open cup whilst being easier to hold and needing little movement backwards to drink. She shared these next steps with other practitioners and Abdul's parents so that at meal and snack times Abdul will be supported by an adult to engage and drink from the open cup ensuring consistency between home and setting. She also noted this down on his SMART target sheet. Mary also decided to offer other tipping and pouring opportunities for Abdul throughout his play to encourage these skills in the moment. She modelled tipping and pouring actions with Abdul throughout the session when he showed an interest in the water tray. Throughout the term, his confidence grew, and his skills developed. By the following term, when Mary completed the assessment tool for Abdul again, she was able to recognise his progress by circling "S" (supported), indicating that he can now demonstrate this skill with guidance from an adult.

Here is an example of a completed tool

Example tool

Using the framework tool to monitor child progress

Monitoring how children progress with their learning helps you see where to focus your support. The development growth section enables you to note how a child is progressing over a period of time, recognising areas where the child may need further support and areas in which they are making continuous developmental progress and so highlighting their strengths.

This can be simply monitored by recording the number of emerging, supported or independent statements a child is achieving. For example, where a child is emerging in a statement this would be recorded as 1, supported would be 2 and independent would be 3, you can add these together to see how much of the assessment tool they are covering with each review, monitoring their progress.

You can monitor a child's progress through the change in the number of statements a child is covering within the assessment tool each term.

Using the framework following the Progress Check at Age Two

If a delay is identified during the Progress Check at Age Two, you may choose to use the assessment tool as your next step on the journey to supporting the child and their parents and or carers. You can select and complete the relevant tool to understand in more detail what the child is currently achieving. This way, you create a starting point to work from and this supports you in evidencing the successes a child has with the intervention you can provide.

Case study

After completing the Progress Check at Age Two with his key child, Leigh, Mathew recognised that her communication and language skills were delayed. He met with Leigh's parents to discuss how they could further support her, and introduced the setting SENCO. They chose the communication and interaction tool and completed an assessment of Leigh. This assessment, alongside conversation with her parents to understand more about how Leigh communicates at home, led to identifying that Leigh could use some early speech sounds, but lacked confidence when engaging with others.

Mathew decided to use visuals alongside Leigh's favourite interests and used simple language during play as first strategies to support Leigh's communication journey moving forwards. Mathew engaged in these strategies with Leigh consistently, and shared the same visuals with her parents to use in the home. Over time both parents and Mathew noticed an increase in awareness of the visuals and on occasion Leigh would pick up a visual which linked with something she was playing with. By the next review, a term later, everyone could see the progress in Leigh's awareness of communication.

Through the reviews and communal discussion of Leigh's strengths and needs the team that surrounded her could identify strategies that would interest her as well as support her early language skills which led to effective progress being made on each termly review. If Leigh's communication needs continue to make progress but not meet typical milestones the SENCO would support the family in making a referral to speech and language services in their area for additional support and guidance.

Using the toolkit to support accessing funding

Additional funding can be important to ensuring equipment, training and appropriate support are in place. When applying for local authority allocated funding, they may ask you for evidence of the child's need. To access funding, it should be clear what broad areas of need a child has, how this impacts their learning and development, the support currently in place and the potential impact of the support requested. The impact on a child's learning and development can be evidenced through selecting observations that demonstrate the child's needs and how effective the current support provided is. By using the assessment tool, you can show clear progression through small steps-based learning. These are all things that a local authority may consider when assessing applications for SEND funding.

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The DfE assessment resources provide a suggested way of working when assessing children with SEND in the early years. Whether you are a school-based provider, group-based provider or childminder, these resources can be used to support your children with potential or known SEND.

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Early years stronger practice hubs provide advice, share good practice and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners.

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Training on the Two Year Progress Review

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Training on the Two Year Progress Review

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Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs and SEND training, support and advice.

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Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs and SEND training, support and advice.

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Sample Letter inviting Parent/Carers to Two Year Old Progress Review

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Sample Letter inviting Parent/Carers to Two Year Old Progress Review

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Two Year Old Progress Review - Sample Letter to Parents

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Appendices: Sample Assessment Tool and Research for Parent/Carers

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Appendices: Sample Assessment Tool and Research for Parent/Carers

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Two Year Old Progress Review Appendices 2 and 3 - Reasearch and Assessment Tools 

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Statutory guidance for local authorities on the provision of early education and childcare.

Applies to England

Documents

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Statutory guidance for local authorities on the provision of early education and childcare.

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Early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding

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We are seeking views on our proposals to strengthen the safeguarding requirements within the statutory framework for the EYFS.

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Dingley’s Promise - Homepage - Dingley’s Promise

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Our mission is to deliver life changing support to under 5s with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities, and their families.

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What should I do if I have concerns about my child's development?

If you're worried about your child's progress, talk to your childminder/nursery/pre-school team, health visitor, local children's centre or Family Hub.

If your child has developmental delays or SEND (suspected or confirmed), speak to their nursery, childminder, or health visitor/nursery/pre-school team well before they start Reception and discuss their needs when you are selecting schools.

You can work with your child's early years setting to help your child with self-care, managing emotions, social skills and communication in a way that suits their stage of development.

​You might want to share details about: their development, needs, what motivates them, what might trigger difficulties, how they learn best, and what strategies work well.

Make sure you share important information with everyone supporting your child, including their new Reception teacher.

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Your child's journey to school starts at home. We understand that all children develop at their own pace, and that we're all learning from birth. When it's time to start school, some children will need more help than others.

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Welcome to INSPIRE Hub - Training Calendar 

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Welcome to INSPIRE Hub - Training Calendar 

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Joint Communication Team (JCT)  Recorded Webinars 

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Joint Communication Team (JCT)  Recorded Webinars 

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See below for webinars to support schools to address the speech language and communication needs of children and young people.

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ASK SAL (SEND Advice Line) Referral Form Link

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ASK SAL (SEND Advice Line) Referral Form Link

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Easily create surveys and polls to collect customer feedback, measure employee satisfaction, and organize team events.

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Blog - Self-Regulation and Executive Function in the Early Years: A Two-Minute Guide for Practitioners

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The DfE assessment resources provide a suggested way of working when assessing children with SEND in the early years. Whether you are a school-based provider, group-based provider or childminder, these resources can be used to support your children with potential or known SEND. You may want to use everything, or choose which specific elements will be helpful for your setting.

The resources include:

four assessment tools centred around the four broad areas of need

examples of how to use the assessment tools in practice

a one page profile to capture the voice of the child

SMART targets sheet to set short-term targets

support and achievement play plans (SAPPs) to capture a child's long-term goals and needs

The assessment tools

There are four assessment tools, that reflect the four broad areas of need, with a focus on the core skills children with SEND may gain in each area. You can use them at any stage of supporting a child, and they are designed to be used individually or together based on the needs of a child.

The tools may be used in the following way:

1. An area of need is recognised through observation and discussed with the parents and or carers.

2. The appropriate broad area(s) of need is selected from the assessment tools.

3. You use the tool to find out what the child can do in their area of need.

4. You discuss the child's strengths and strategies to support them and note this on a one-page profile with the parents and or carers.

5. You use the assessment tool to outline the initial targets for their child. Using specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) targets you can help a child to make progress towards the assessment statements within the tool.

6. You may want to produce a Support and Achievement Play Plan (SAPP), which will identify long-term goals and record key strategies you may use to support the child. You implement the strategies discussed in practice, noting their impact on the child and how the child engages with your planned support.

7. By the end of the term, or appropriate period, you review the impact of the strategies with the parents and or carers, complete a development monitoring review to determine developmental progress and set out new appropriate targets.

8. Repeat steps 5-7 until you feel support is no longer required or you support the child to transition to their next setting or school.

There may come a time where you feel external specialist support is required. You may refer to your setting or local authority area Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO) for support and guidance or you can directly refer to these services and work with them on any additional support to be implemented. You should only request specialist support when you are satisfied that you have used a graduated approach to understand the child and their needs, and even when they are waiting to be seen you should continue to trial different approaches to support the child.

To strengthen your understanding of how to identify developmental differences and needs and help to consider factors affecting children's development when they access the learning and curriculum on offer, the DfE has developed early years child development training. You can access it for free.

Using the assessment tools

Completing the assessment tool is quick and simple. Each statement is broken down into three levels:

emerging - the child is showing some interest or awareness of this skill.

supported - the child can achieve this skill with support from another (adult or child).

independently - the child can consistently achieve this skill on their own without additional support from an adult or child.

By reading the statements you can make a judgement as to whether you feel the child is not yet showing awareness of this skill, and so leave it unmarked, or determine whether they are emerging (E), supported (S) or independent (I). You can then mark the coordinating letter however you wish (circle, highlight, tick, etc.).

Every time you complete an additional review you should use a different colour to evidence where you feel the child is at that point. We recognise that some children may regress with their development on occasion, and this should also be marked, and appropriate next steps and intervention should be carried out.

The assessment tools promote a positive view of the child by working towards a series of "I can" statements. These are further divided into three sub sections, which allow you to see if there are particular areas of development that may need deeper focus. The statements are organised like building blocks, with the likelihood that the lower blocks are achieved before the higher blocks. However, some children will not progress in this way, and you should not be concerned if you are observing that the higher blocks have been achieved before the lower blocks.

You can also note the types of play you observe from the child to support your decision making in appropriate strategies of support or environmental adjustments you can make to enhance their learning.

Case study

Mary completed the "Sensory and Physical" tool for Abdul, and noted that he is not yet using an open top cup and preferred drinking from a closed 'easy drink' bottle. She circled "E" (emerging) on the statement "I can drink with an open top cup without support". To support him, Mary planned to initially provide Abdul with a slanted, 2 handled drinks cup, alongside his favourite bottle, which gave him the access to an open cup whilst being easier to hold and needing little movement backwards to drink. She shared these next steps with other practitioners and Abdul's parents so that at meal and snack times Abdul will be supported by an adult to engage and drink from the open cup ensuring consistency between home and setting. She also noted this down on his SMART target sheet. Mary also decided to offer other tipping and pouring opportunities for Abdul throughout his play to encourage these skills in the moment. She modelled tipping and pouring actions with Abdul throughout the session when he showed an interest in the water tray. Throughout the term, his confidence grew, and his skills developed. By the following term, when Mary completed the assessment tool for Abdul again, she was able to recognise his progress by circling "S" (supported), indicating that he can now demonstrate this skill with guidance from an adult.

Here is an example of a completed tool

Example tool

Using the framework tool to monitor child progress

Monitoring how children progress with their learning helps you see where to focus your support. The development growth section enables you to note how a child is progressing over a period of time, recognising areas where the child may need further support and areas in which they are making continuous developmental progress and so highlighting their strengths.

This can be simply monitored by recording the number of emerging, supported or independent statements a child is achieving. For example, where a child is emerging in a statement this would be recorded as 1, supported would be 2 and independent would be 3, you can add these together to see how much of the assessment tool they are covering with each review, monitoring their progress.

You can monitor a child's progress through the change in the number of statements a child is covering within the assessment tool each term.

Using the framework following the Progress Check at Age Two

If a delay is identified during the Progress Check at Age Two, you may choose to use the assessment tool as your next step on the journey to supporting the child and their parents and or carers. You can select and complete the relevant tool to understand in more detail what the child is currently achieving. This way, you create a starting point to work from and this supports you in evidencing the successes a child has with the intervention you can provide.

Case study

After completing the Progress Check at Age Two with his key child, Leigh, Mathew recognised that her communication and language skills were delayed. He met with Leigh's parents to discuss how they could further support her, and introduced the setting SENCO. They chose the communication and interaction tool and completed an assessment of Leigh. This assessment, alongside conversation with her parents to understand more about how Leigh communicates at home, led to identifying that Leigh could use some early speech sounds, but lacked confidence when engaging with others.

Mathew decided to use visuals alongside Leigh's favourite interests and used simple language during play as first strategies to support Leigh's communication journey moving forwards. Mathew engaged in these strategies with Leigh consistently, and shared the same visuals with her parents to use in the home. Over time both parents and Mathew noticed an increase in awareness of the visuals and on occasion Leigh would pick up a visual which linked with something she was playing with. By the next review, a term later, everyone could see the progress in Leigh's awareness of communication.

Through the reviews and communal discussion of Leigh's strengths and needs the team that surrounded her could identify strategies that would interest her as well as support her early language skills which led to effective progress being made on each termly review. If Leigh's communication needs continue to make progress but not meet typical milestones the SENCO would support the family in making a referral to speech and language services in their area for additional support and guidance.

Using the toolkit to support accessing funding

Additional funding can be important to ensuring equipment, training and appropriate support are in place. When applying for local authority allocated funding, they may ask you for evidence of the child's need. To access funding, it should be clear what broad areas of need a child has, how this impacts their learning and development, the support currently in place and the potential impact of the support requested. The impact on a child's learning and development can be evidenced through selecting observations that demonstrate the child's needs and how effective the current support provided is. By using the assessment tool, you can show clear progression through small steps-based learning. These are all things that a local authority may consider when assessing applications for SEND funding.

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The DfE assessment resources provide a suggested way of working when assessing children with SEND in the early years. Whether you are a school-based provider, group-based provider or childminder, these resources can be used to support your children with potential or known SEND.

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EARLY YEARS SUMMARY TRANSFER FORM  25-26 FINAL