Caerphilly Early Years team works with families, early intervention teams, health professionals, registered childcare and play settings, schools, and community provisions to see how we can best support children with emerging development needs.
Our early intervention teams work in communities with families at the earliest opportunity supporting early language development and child development through individual family sessions online or in person as well as group sessions including language groups.
Our childcare team works with registered childcare and play settings to develop inclusive provision, including child observations, role modelling strategies in setting, delivering training for staff teams, as well as providing resources needed for your child to access the childcare environment.
Lots of communities set up their own local groups to support children to play in the community. You can find out what is available by using Dewis. In the summer holidays there are Food and Fun sessions run in schools and Family Play in the Park Days which are inclusive sessions and can offer great play opportunities for children and families. There are also Sparkle clubs for children with more specific additional needs.
We want all children to become independent learners who are confident and thrive in a fun learning environment. However, some children struggle with this and need more targeted support to help them settle into a childcare setting and develop their independence skills. identifies children who may need this enhanced provision.
Sometimes there is support to access funded childcare provision depending on funding or your family situation. Please check the webpages for more information and contact us if you need support.
Before starting in childcare with enhanced provision, the setting will arrange a transition meeting. The setting will invite you and other professionals working with you to the meeting. At the meeting you all share information to develop your child’s one page profile.
The One Page Profile identifies your child’s strengths, what is important to you and your child, and, how best to support them in the childcare setting. The setting reviews and updates your child’s one page profile each term. We have a step-down approach (moving towards universal provision) as your child becomes more independent and their skills develop.
If your child is making good progress, the setting will work with you and your child to plan transition to Nursery (Early Years Education).
Sometimes children won’t make progress with the enhanced provision in the childcare setting. This is part of our graduated response. If children do not make progress, there will be a multi team discussion at the Early Years ALN Panel which will include:
Professionals will discuss this with you. They will organise a Person Centred Planning (PCP) meeting for you and all the professionals working with your child. All share information to identify if your child has Additional Learning Needs (ALN). Your thoughts, wishes and feelings are important on an ongoing basis, and at the PCP meeting. This is part of the new ALNET (Wales) Act 2018.
The ALNET Act (2018) offers an inclusive system. It aims to meet the needs of all children to become successful, independent and resilient. It allows for children and parents to be central to the planning. There is support to take part as much as possible in the decision making process.
The PCP meeting shares the information needed to decide if your child has ALN. If your child does have ALN, with your consent the information shared will be used to develop your child’s Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP includes the Additional Learning Provision (ALP) needed. ALP is support which is extra to that provided to most children of the same age. Reviews of IDPs are annual, if your child is not making progress, or when anything significant changes for them.
If there are disagreements during the process, the key people will come together to seek an agreement. You have the right to appeal decisions made by the school or Local Authority about your child’s ALN or the ALP. An appeal is when you request a decision to change. Independent support will be able to listen and help if there remain disagreements. SNAP Cymru offer independent advice and support.
Some children have complex physical medical needs and need more specialist childcare provision. Children eligible for a part-time Flying Start funded childcare placement who need specialist childcare will be allocated a place through the Early Years ALN Panel based on the evidence supplied. Currently there are some specialist Flying Start childcare placements in Sunshine Flying Start Playgroup in Energlyn Children Centre and specific childcare settings across the borough who are able to deliver specialist provision.
The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 and the Additional Learning Needs Code aims to make education provision more inclusive for all children in Wales by providing the statutory system for meeting the needs of children with additional learning needs (ALN).
Section 2 of the Act defines the term ‘additional learning needs’ (ALN):
2 Additional learning needs
(1) A person has additional learning needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability (whether the learning difficulty or disability arises from a medical condition or otherwise) which calls for additional learning provision.
(2) A child of compulsory school age or person over that age has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she—
(a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
(b) has a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities for education or training of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream maintained schools or mainstream institutions in the further education sector.
(3) A child under compulsory school age has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she is or would be if no additional learning provision were made, likely to be within subsection (2) when of compulsory school age.
(4) A person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been used at home.
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