Katie Jackson, the SENDCo at Loxley Forest School Nursery in Sheffield, has been successfully implementing the Valuing SEND approach to upskill her staff and engage with parents and carers. Here, Katie shares how she’s used Valuing SEND to support Samuel, a boy in her setting, and his parents in making key decisions about his future transition to primary school.

Samuel is 3 years old and is receiving speech and language therapy for his delayed speech, language and social development. He is awaiting assessment for both autism and ADHD which run in his family. Samuel communicates with gestures and sounds and will only attempt interaction with adults, actively rejecting his peers. He has faced challenges adapting to nursery life due to difficulties in managing his emotions, often resulting in outbursts of anger and frustration. Additionally, Samuel struggles with maintaining concentration and is easily distracted, frequently moving between activities.

Samuel is due to start school next year and both Katie and his family were concerned about the level of extra support he would need and whether he would require a specialist placement.

“As dad and his siblings attended specialist schools growing up and didn’t have a very positive experience,  he doesn’t want the same for Samuel and wants him to attend our feeder school.” Katie Jackson

In Samuel’s case, the staff at Loxley collaborated with his parents to address the challenges they were facing. The VSEND prompts provided Katie with the opportunity to engage in a productive conversation with Samuel’s parents, allowing them to exchange ideas and insights. Samuel’s mum taught Katie some of the Makaton signs he understands and shared the visual aids he uses at home. His dad shared that Samuel enjoys using tools to take objects apart and fix them, noting that he will concentrate on these activities for extended periods. As a result, all adults in the setting have been able to implement Makaton signing and visual aids consistent with Samuel’s home environment. They are using these to engage Samuel in new activities and are currently setting up a tool bench to build on his strengths.

“This meeting gave both his parents and myself a chance to bounce ideas off one another so we can work from the same page.” Katie Jackson

Valuing SEND has enabled Samuel’s parents to interact positively and more often with the setting, increasing their confidence in their ability to care for him and meet his needs. For Katie, it has not only helped her understand Samuel but also his parents. “I better understand his parents’ wishes for a place in mainstream school and once a place in school has been secured, I can set up some transition meetings to make the school transition run smoothly.”