Have you heard of a Local Offer?

Have you heard of a Local Offer?

You may have heard the term vaguely- especially if you have a child under the age of 25 with an additional need or disability.

It is basically how a provision will ensure at all times your child or indeed yourself will be able to access all the services they have on offer.

At KATC this is done via a number of different questions to which can be seen within our SEND policy- this will give all the information a parent/carer may like to know to ensure their child is able to access everything.

Lets look at identifiying and supporting children with additional needs and/or disabilities, this is something we have discussed before and the focus is “Early Intervention”, the earliar we can identify a child needs a little extra support the sooner we can implement strategies to encourage and support their learning.

The same goes for children who come to us- we make this our top priority to ensure every child has the exact level of unique support they may need. This more often than not involves other professionals sharing time at the setting observing the child in play and together we all work on small acheieveable steps to develop the child individually.

Our environments are planned meticulously to ensure each child can access every area of provision safely- this includes outdoors, sensory areas and messy play.

Parents/carers are the most important part when we look at supporting children they have the key information to what is the best for their child- this is why our Local Offer is always readily available for prospective parents also via our Local Authority website linked to providers.

You may have also heard the term “Plan, Do and Review”- this is basically what it means… we PLAN for the child taking into account their unique learning style, DO it consistently and REVIEW together to how this is working and how we move forward.

When we review we have 2 different approaches, there can be something we call a 4+1 approach which is a short sit down with key person and parents/carer and the more formal Person Centred Approach meeting where other professionals will share their thoughts too- either is a wonderful way to share the achievements and progress however slight this may be.

It also includes information on how accessible each setting is physically, do you know here at KATC we complete annual DDA audits? DDA is the Disability Discrimination Act and these are checks we look at to ensure the premises are safe, visible and physically allow everyone to access through doorways and stair cases.

It takes into account parking facilities and care routines which allows us to reflect on the differing needs that may arise- this has helped us to review such things as access to children’s bathrooms and handrails in the cubicles for our little ones.

The main thing is which we want to shout from the roof tops… we can do it together- it doesn’t matter if a little help is needed we all need an extra hand so lets have fun and take part in all we have to offer!