"Enabling potential and celebrating success; together we can help children learn"
What is the Specialist Teaching Service?
Specialist teachers support children in non-maintained and maintained early years settings in Derbyshire. Teachers carry out assessments, set long-term learning outcomes (often in support of Early Years Inclusion Fund (EYIF) evaluations), and advise the setting. The specialist teacher will support the setting to use short-term targets through cycles of assess, plan, do and review at a specialist level of the graduated response. Specialist teachers work directly with the child and also with setting staff, giving advice, modelling strategies and providing training.
The package of support offered by the specialist teacher team may look different depending on the needs of the child and the requirements of the setting.
Who are the EYSEN Specialist Teaching Team?
The team of 11 qualified teachers (some of whom work part time) are all highly experienced teachers of early years children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). They are dual experts in both early years education and development and in SEN.
How does Specialist Teacher support work?
The teacher team offers a model of support which engages both the setting and family in the assessment phase and then works primarily with the child in their early years setting. The support is flexible and varies in response to the child’s needs and the confidence of the staff working with the child to meet those needs. Visits focus on practical ideas and play experiences which support the child to make progress towards agreed learning outcomes.
The teacher visits support the setting in implementing their cycles of assess, plan, do and review which are required by the SEND Code of Practice (2015). At reviews, the decision regarding ongoing support is taken. Sometimes children are placed on less frequent monitoring visits or closed to caseload because they are making good progress and the setting no longer requires specialist support to meet their needs.
Sometimes children remain on caseload until they start school in reception year. In these cases, the specialist teacher supports transition, working closely with setting, school, parents and other professionals and support agencies to achieve a confident and successful transition.
What our settings say
“We have absolutely loved working with the specialist teacher and the child has made lots of progress with her support. Thank you so much for your support with our setting as a whole.”
“The support and advice provided to both myself as manager, our SENCO and the family has been outstanding. I feel the outcomes for the child were greatly improved because of your involvement and I feel more confident to support SEN families in the future.”
How to request support from the EYSEN Specialist Teaching Service
A request for specialist teacher support can be made through the EYIF evaluation form when funding is reapplied for to support a child or by using the Early Years SEN Panel Referral Form. A request for support should only be made after discussion and agreement with parents/carers. Further information and forms can be found by visiting:
Specialist Teacher Service Criteria
Specialist Teachers within the EYSEN Service support children who attend any Derbyshire contracted Early Years provider (except for children enrolled in a reception class) and have:
- significant developmental differences in more than one area of learning (Cognition and learning, communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development) and who
- after receiving targeted support, continue to face considerable challenges, with needs that affect their ability to engage with the early years curriculum.
The work forms part of the graduated response to each child's needs at specialist level. Before requesting specialist support for a child, there will have been support provided through progressive cycles of the 'assess, plan, do, review' approach at universal and targeted levels by the setting or from other professionals.
To discuss a possible request for specialist teacher support with a senior specialist teacher or the EYSEN Lead Officer, please contact: CS.EYSENservice@derbyshire.gov.uk