By becoming a SEND Champion, you're joining a group of early years practitioners across England who are committed to improving outcomes for children with SEND.

When you take part in the programme, you'll develop the knowledge, skills and confidence of your staff team, and help families access the information they need.

The gap between children with a special educational need (SEN) and those with no identified SEN has increased from 47 to 50.4 percentage points in 2015.

Just 21% of SEN pupils achieved a GLD compared with 71% of those pupils with no identified SEN. (Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results 2015).

Of all reported characteristics, pupils with a special educational need have the largest attainment gaps when compared to those without SEN …and it’s widened.

The Parliamentary Inquiry into childcare for disabled children (2014) highlights that there is a significant shortfall of knowledge, skills and confidence, in this area in the early years workforce. With the legislative changes outlined in the new SEND Code of Practice (2015), Early Years providers are vital to the success of its implementation.

That's why we've developed this bespoke programme to help you drive better outcomes for children with SEND.

Learning Outcomes

1. Increase the confidence, knowledge and skills of the SEND Champion to support the staff and children in the setting
2. Identify best practice in identifying and supporting children with development delay or SEND
3. Examine the benefits of developing inclusive, accessible provision for maximising the potential of all children
4. Improve the adult interactions with children, the resources offered and the environment in the setting
5. Improve positive relationships, enhancing staff confidence levels working in partnership with parents and other professionals
6. Increase the progress of all children but specifically children with SEND
7. Access the programme’s resource bank, webinars and on-line training to extend and embed the settings SEND provision