Willows Nursery and Special School in Portsmouth does more than work directly with children who have been referred because of their special educational needs. It establishes a close partnership with parents from the start. It also works effectively with neighbouring schools and settings, sharing expertise with other staff to help them include special needs children in mainstream classes. The school has developed a programme of outreach into the community for any family with young children, in particular those with children with difficulties that can be identified and provided support as early as possible.
Established 30 years ago, Willows has been working very successfully with children from two to five who have a wide variety of special educational needs. It draws pupils from across the city, and maintains close links with parents, the community, specialist agencies and staff of primary schools and nursery settings throughout Portsmouth and beyond. Its work is recognised through its Chartermark, Investors in People and Beacon status, as well as through its inclusion in the Early Excellence programme. The headteacher, Anne Swann, has an open door policy and a commitment to flexible team working.
All pupils are referred by the local monitoring and placement panel, which passes on reports by educational psychologists and others. Children with a very wide range of significant needs attend the nursery. Staff undertake a baseline assessment on admission, and then maintain a continuing systematic process of formative assessment. Individual Education Plans are incorporated into the system.
Every child is regarded as an individual, and the school aims to meet the needs of each one. One mother on her first visit to Willows was worried by her son's behaviour, but said, 'My worries were eased because whatever I mentioned, nobody saw it as a problem.' Staff hold high expectations, and work directly with parents as well as the children. This helps parents to understand what their children can do, and how to help them, and also provides essential opportunities for practitioners to hear the parents'
perspective and to draw on the in-depth knowledge they have of their child.
To establish a good understanding with families, each class dedicates one day each week to outreach work. Two staff make an initial home visit before or soon after a child starts at Willows. Uninterrupted time is allowed for discussion, as one member of staff plays with the child while the other discusses the parents' views and wishes with them. Staff are sensitive to the situation of parents who are coming to terms with their children's difficulties. As one parent said, 'I've come a long way in a short space of time and I'd probably have been doolally by now.'
Staff aim to lay the foundations of a mutually respectful relationship from the outset, and actively promote a consistency of approach. Targets are negotiated which can be worked on at home or school. Achievements and targets are recorded in regular written reports for parents and all the professionals involved.
Mainstream links
Pupils on roll at Willows may have a place with a local nursery, and spend time in each setting, as appropriate. Staff from Willows may work alongside colleagues in other nurseries or playgroups where children have shared places.
Portsmouth has a system of annual entry to primary school in the September of the year in which a child will become five. This means that many are young four-year-olds when offered a place in a reception class. But many children who have been attending Willows continue to have time in the nursery after they start primary school. Others start primary school a year later. The professional relationship established with neighbouring schools and the trust built with parents has enabled Willows to negotiate a delayed start for many of their children, where this is agreed to be developmentally appropriate.
Training support
Willows has developed a wide range of support materials to help providers in the private and voluntary sector as well as in local nursery and primary schools to identify what they can do for children with special needs. There is a video showing good practice as well as written guidance packs, which include detailed, practical checklists.
'Get Smart' is a ten-week training course, commissioned by Portsmouth EYDCP for early years staff across the city to enable effective special educational needs work. The course consists of five days of direct teaching, covering the key issues of communication, behaviour, differentiation and working with parents. On alternate weeks participants work alongside staff in practical sessions at Willows. The training can carry CATS points, which may be counted towards accreditation.
Bespoke training designed to suit particular needs, for example, for staff of out-of-school clubs, is also available. A qualified Makaton trainer offers accredited training in sign language. A project to promote effective learning in children with autism and related needs (PELICAN), supervised by an educational psychologist, is managed by Willows.
Outreach service
Early Excellence funding supports an outreach team who work in the community. Their training currently ranges from in-house to NVQ3, possibly dependent on their length of service, as all staff are encouraged to take further training.
Their aim is to offer support for any Portsmouth family, including identifying delayed development in young children, and to disseminate the nursery's good practice to enhance learning opportunities for young children. The team provides open-access adult, toddler and baby groups in increasing numbers of community settings, where staff help parents to plan activities that will encourage play skills, such as art and crafts, cooking, music and movement. This builds the adults' confidence and introduces them and their children to new people and experiences.
The outreach team also run STARtots, which is a self-referral language enrichment group for parents whose children are late in talking. Sometimes families are referred by health visitors to the team, who can offer practical ideas and support. Early Start and Shared Beginnings programmes, funded by the Basic Skills Agency, complement the programme through their focus on communication, language and literacy, and mathematical skills for parents and carers, together with their children.
Lifelong Education for Adults in Portsmouth offers a choice of courses to parents at a local college, where the outreach team provide a creche.
Every Saturday and during the summer holidays, the outreach co-ordinator supervises community play days in the nursery, for which there is a small charge. These provide a wealth of activities for any child from three to six (or eight if they have special needs), who can stay both for morning and afternoon sessions if they wish. This is a particularly welcome form of respite care for parents of special needs children, allowing them to have some time to themselves.
A recent outreach services users' evaluation praised the service. One mother from a drop-in summed up, 'Fantastic service, should be more widespread and further funding given to support such excellent work.'
Future developments
Supported by Portsmouth LEA and other agencies, the headteacher and staff at Willows are energetic in extending their work. They aim to support an increased capacity for training and outreach services. An ambitious fundraising programme is enabling the school to expand into a bigger building with more facilities and special equipment.
The head is optimistic that enough funding will be forthcoming to let the school build on existing achievements. For example, she is seeking core funding for further preventive work, including sessions for parents, and there are plans to make more videos exemplifying good practice that can be used for training purposes.
A new database is being developed so that leavers can be tracked systematically over the long term, providing evidence of their progress after they leave Willows, and indicating the effectiveness of the school's approach. An initial tracer study in 2003 indicates that overall, 58 per cent of pupils successfully access mainstream curriculum, with only 5 per cent failing to sustain this throughout their educational career. The LEA's primary adviser comments that Willows has the most complete set of data of any school he knows. He has suggested that it would be useful to track what level of support, if any, ex-pupils get in mainstream. Headteacher Anne Swann, as if she isn't busy enough already, has decided to make this the subject of her MA dissertation next year.
References
* Blenkin GM & Kelly AV (1998), Early Childhood Education: a developmental curriculum. London: Paul Chapman
* Bruce T (1996), Helping Young Children to Play. London: Hodder and Stoughton
* Pugh, G & d'Eath, E (1989), Parents, Professionals and Partnership:rhetoric or reality. London: National Children's Bureau
* Whalley M & the Pen Green Centre Team (2001), Involving Parents in their children's learning. London: Paul Chapman
Further information
If you would like more details, you are welcome to contact Anne Swann, the headteacher at Willows Nursery School, c/o Portsdown Primary and Early Years School, Sundridge Close, Cosham, Portsmouth PO6 3JL, tel: 02392 379137
* E-mail anneswann@willows.portsmouth.sch.uk
Available from Willows:
* Count Me In - a training pack with photocopiable records
* The Big Picture - an audit which assists the inclusion of children with special educational needs
* The Willows Nursery School - a training video
* www.childsplay.uk.net - awebsite for information and support linked to Willows website, which contains policies and other useful documents