nasen to provide SEND support to early years settings

Special educational needs charity nasen is to receive £1.4 million from the Department for Education to improve access and inclusion in early years.

The funding will form part of two projects; a training programme for early years setting managers, and an accredited SENCO award aimed at local authority employees, both of which will run until March 2020.
 
Working alongside a number of partners, including Council for Disabled Children, ICAN, The Communications Trust, Contact, Achievement for All and Liverpool School Improvement, the exciting new projects will look to support education professionals nationwide working within SEND.  
 
Initially, the training programme for early years setting managers will be available in the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, East Midlands, West Midlands, North East and will look to train 672 setting managers in total.
 
The training offer will consist of one full day which will look at a whole setting approach to SEND and developing managers’ understanding of responding to speech language and communication needs. It will also seek to share learning across all five regions. Candidates will then choose from five other specialist SEND strands for further training opportunities.
 
The SENCO award will be led by the Liverpool School Improvement Service, and will look to recruit 23 local authority employees, on an in-depth training course that will equip them to go on to support other education professionals working in SEND. This award will be available nationally.
 
Both projects will link strategically with the work of the government’s SEND workforce development programme being delivered by the Whole School SEND consortium, which is also hosted by nasen. 
 
Dr Adam Boddison, nasen’s Chief Executive said: “Here at nasen, we are committed to providing the most effective and relevant support to those working with children and young people with SEND.
 
"For over 25 years, nasen has been committed to supporting a skilled and knowledgeable workforce. This project will enable nasen to lead the way in providing crucial support and professional development to those working in early years settings to identify and support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)”.