Early years (under 5's) education and SEND

The Early Years Inclusion Pathway is the process by which Waltham Forest Council meets its statutory duties to identify and meet the needs of children under 5 with learning & developmental delay/SEND by: 

• implementing a graduated approach to support via universal, targeted, and specialist support
• accepting referrals from health professionals so that families can access holistic support
• offering multi-agency support across education, health, and family support/care services at all levels of support 

The Early Years Inclusion Pathway consists of a range of support and information for children under 5 and their families, including: 

• referrals to the Early Years Inclusion Pathway
• arrangements for identifying and assessing children’s needs
• free Early Education and Childcare
• funding to support under-5s with learning or developmental delay
• preparing your child to start at an early years setting or school
• support for children attending an early years setting
• support for children who do not attend an early years setting
• support for parents and carers 

Universal support 

All families are able to access a range of free services, which include: 

• the Best Start in Life services as part of the Family Hub Offer
• up to 15 hours of free early education and childcare per week for all 3 to 4 year olds 

If as part of their work with a family, a professional identifies a child that is under 5 is not making expected levels of progress and believe they may have learning and developmental delay or SEND that will require additional support/interventions that cannot be met through the universal services in the years leading up to and when they take up their free early education/school place, they should make a referral to the Early Years Inclusion Pathway.  

This will enable the Local Authority to make arrangements for the appropriate information and support to be provided as part of the appropriate targeted or specialist element of the Early Years Inclusion Pathway. Ideally this referral would be made by a health professional working with the family, but if this is not possible for any reason, any professional can make a referral. 

We anticipate that the learning and development needs of your child, prior to them taking up their Reception Class place in a school, would be met as part of the multi-agency targeted and/or specialist support that is provided via the Early Years Inclusion Pathway.  

Support provided as part of this pathway will support your child’s learning and development and ensure that robust transition and support arrangements are in place for when your child starts school/nursery.   

When we receive an EY Inclusion Pathway referral  

The majority of children with medium or high-level learning and developmental delay who are either known to, or have been notified to the Local Authority (LA) by a health professional, will be able to access the support they need via the multi-agency EY Inclusion Pathway.   

The local authority will review the referral and information provided by health and/or early years professionals and use this to put in place a learning and development support plan for your child.  

The learning and development support plan will be based on your child’s individual needs and will be delivered by combining support from education, health, and family support/care professionals, depending on whether your child attends an early years setting or does not. 

This plan outlines the support offered to your child to help with their learning and development. This plan may include support from Health Visitors, Speech and Language Therapists, Early Years Inclusion Practitioners, Educational Psychologists or Specialist Teachers, who may be able to identify effective learning and development strategies, equipment, programmes or other interventions. Your child’s learning and development support plan would form part of a wider holistic support plan.  

If, having provided effective learning and development strategies and programmes as part of the universal, targeted and specialist elements of the Early Years Inclusion Pathway, your child has not made expected progress, the local authority will work with you and other professionals supporting your family to determine whether it may be necessary for an EHC needs assessment to be requested.