Our Local Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Offer

Clophill Preschool is committed to supporting all children and their families in need of additional help. Co-owner Chris is an experienced SENDCo who puts her heart and soul into working with parents and extended services, if needed, to identify as early as possible those who would benefit from extra support. Sarah, our deputy SENDCo, have a huge amount of personal experience in SEND and Early Help and is a fantastic guide to processes and support on offer.

Both Chris and Sarah’s huge range of experience in this field, through their working roles and personally, means they have excellent knowledge and have built good relationships with a range of professionals across Central Bedfordshire and the surrounding boroughs. We also have a great team of 1:1 support staff and preschool assistants who work collaboratively to ensure they meet the needs of the children, building excellent relationships with them and their families while working in partnership with Chris and Sarah to ensure all needs are met.

We meet with parents and external agencies to ensure that we are part of the wider support network e.g. Health Visitors, Speech & Language and Early Years Support Teachers. We take a holistic approach with all our children, only then can we truly understand all their needs and the ways in which best to support them and their families, this means building good relationships and having an open dialogue to share experiences, events, thoughts and concerns.

Our setting has a large car park and a ramp up to the village hall with a clear pathway to our entrance gate across the patio at the rear. Though we are primarily based outdoors we find rollers and wheelchairs don’t have any difficulty navigating the space.  We find that the outdoor natural environment is beneficial to all of our children helping with everyone’s mental health and wellbeing. We feel it is every child’s right to be able to have these experiences from playing in the mud kitchen to sitting in the sand pit, we ensure these activities are accessible to all. Our SEND team also have use of the outdoor shelter and the inside where they will set up bespoke play and sensory experiences.

To not have the confines of four walls and to hear the rustle of the leaves on the trees and to feel the sun on their skin is vitally important for each child’s wellbeing and development. Our outdoor environment offers a wealth of sensory activities every day alongside the opportunity to explore and discover with a team of dedicated, caring and enthusiastic staff to guide and support them.

What is most important of all to us is that every child has a voice and understands they have a right to be heard and included by adults and their peers.

Feb 24