 As discussed at the last Early Years SENCo Network meeting there has been a temporary change to the EHC assessment process and co-production meetings are currently paused. Co-production meetings were held at the point of issuing a draft EHC plan so that the draft plan could be discussed together with those involved.
At the moment no co-production meetings will be scheduled - see week 16 of the timeline at the button at the bottom of this article. It is still really important that you as settings read through the draft EHC plan and feedback any comments or amendments to the SEN team. We would also advise that you support parents to do the same.
The change has been made on a temporary basis in order that the SEN team can focus their resources on clearing the current backlog and minimise any further delays in the process. It is intended that once timescales for assessment are back on track, co-production meetings will be re-introduced.
 The Neurodiversity Team will be holding an online profiling tool training session on Monday 20 May between 7.00pm - 8.30pm. If you would like to book, please email Neurodiversity0-19Enquiries@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
 Highbury Primary Nursery have recently been working to develop a new sensory space to meet the needs of their nursery children. Here is how they have done it…
 "Why we created a sensory space
We created a Sensory space following on from using sensory circuits for our children with emotional developmental delays and those with the most complex needs.
The sensory area was in my office and had many distractions and triggers for the children.
We also had use of the school sensory room, however it was too far away to take a dysregulated child to, so we developed a bespoke space to meet identified needs.
The Impact so far:
We are fairly new to opening our sensory room but so far the positive impact has been:
- A safe space - our sensory room has allowed children to learn to express themselves in an effective, gentle way, and helped them learn how to manage their own emotions.
- Reduced risk of potentially dangerous incidents - we have children who have risk assessments and who become very dysregulated and overwhelmed. The children will use self-destructive behaviours (such as hitting themselves or banging their heads against hard objects or corner of steps/tables objects). The sensory room has been a safe space for them.
- Access for all children and an inclusive environment.
 Outside Area
We extended our outside area so we could cater for all needs of children. We have some children that are dysregulated throughout their time at nursery and the only thing to regulate them will be being outside for hours at a time. We have now got three fenced areas - mud kitchen/soft play and grass area. This space allows all children to be in one of the outdoor areas even if children are struggling".
 Congratulations to everyone who successfully completed the Early Years Professional Development Programme in Autumn 2023!
 Delivered by The Education Development Trust, EYPDP offers high-quality, evidence-informed professional development. Practitioners dedicated themselves to completing a total of 60 hours of learning spread over 8 months. Well done to all!
 Have pupils with a date of birth between 1/9/2019 - 31/8/2020 applied to start school in September 2024?
The Admissions team would be really grateful if you could check with the parent/carers of pupils in this cohort whether they have a school place for September 2024 (places were allocated on 16 April 2024).
If they haven't applied, please ask them to download an application from the Portsmouth City Council website or contact the Admissions Team for an application form on 023 9268 8008 or email Admissions@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
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