Jeanne Saunders Centre

Inclusion: Exceptional

The leaders approach to inclusion is transformational. It is at the heart of everything they do, underpinning the curriculum, bespoke teaching, as well as how they work to build inspiring relationships with children and their families. Leaders and staff are highly receptive to children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and their own unique barriers, as well as their parents and carers. For instance, specialist nursery nurses support parents at home, not only enabling them and their children to access the centre, but also the world around them. They offer their expertise to break down barriers piece by piece, such as supporting families to feel less isolated and giving them hope of finding a childcare provision that can cater for their children's needs. Staff demonstrate exceptional attitudes to breaking down these barriers to enable families to belong, feel valued and for children to thrive and flourish.

Each classroom has a superbly skilled staff team with knowledge, experience and skills that precisely support the needs of all children as individuals. Leaders build exceptionally valuable relationships with specialist services which enables collaborative working to the highest of standards. They work tirelessly to advocate for families, including accessing specialist services, respite care, sourcing additional funding, resources and equipment. Parents and carers share the impact of the inclusive support they receive is beyond anything they could imagine and is life changing.

The bespoke approach to each child's learning includes impressively well sequenced targets, and meticulous assessment. This means every child, including those with significant learning needs, as well as those who face complex barriers to their wellbeing or physical needs, make astonishing progress from their starting points. As a result, leaders and staff at the centre impressively transforms the lives of children and their families above all expectations.

Curriculum and teaching: Exceptional

Leaders alongside their staff team, use their expert knowledge to design highly ambitious, bespoke curriculums for each child. Staff have a highly impressive, commendable knowledge of each unique child. This enables them to design personalised 'just right profiles' and support plans. In turn, these enable staff to meticulously plan and weave children's targets throughout every aspect of their time at the centre. This includes, but is not limited to, precisely targeted activities for children. Leaders and staff skilfully design spaces to promote children's movement and sensory exploration. Children receive intensive interaction from knowledgeable and extremely skilled staff as well as specialist speech and language therapists. This is highly effective and promotes children to make the best possible progress.

Children's communication and language skills are a significant priority. Staff recognise the importance of enabling children to have a voice, make their own choices, and be respected as individuals. They use a range of highly successful methods to support children's communication which is bespoke and consistently embedded in every staff member's practice. As a result, children who have no method to share their own thoughts, wants or needs are supported to independently access visual aid boards. For example, they confidently share their desires, such as being hungry, to ask for help, or to seek out other children for play. Children are superbly supported to develop their first friendships. Staff work innovatively to consider how the environment is meticulously planned to the smallest detail. For example, children who have a sensory need to move around the walls of the classroom, have resources accessible at wall height to support their engagement and ongoing learning, while meeting their sensory needs. These examples demonstrate how incredibly precise and well thought out learning is for each child, maximising their progress at every opportunity.

Achievement: Exceptional

Children develop a deep sense of safety, an exceptional sense of belonging and are able to separate from their parents for the first time. They build skills to communicate their needs and wants, through a variety of highly effective methods. For example, communicating through signing, use of visual aids as well as spoken language. Children skilfully use these methods to become active members of the centre. This remarkably transforms their communication and social skills as they start to accept and play alongside others and build early friendships when they are ready. Children develop their physical skills, such as their leg muscle strength as they learn to walk. They build remarkable confidence in using specialist equipment and as a result, now enthusiastically zoom around the fully accessible provision with high energy and great delight.

Children have a keen interest in numbers. For example, they excitedly and accurately count their strawberry pieces, as they delve into their healthy snacks. Other children are developing an understanding of positional language such as 'in' and 'out'. Children are extremely well prepared for their next stage in their mathematical explorations. Children build their resilience when things challenge them and make remarkable progress from their individual starting points. As a result, every child is exceptionally well prepared for their next stage of learning, including their eventual move to other specialist and mainstream schools.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Exceptional

Staffs' exceptional knowledge of every child enables them to engage children in a way that is highly motivating and supports their growing ability to maintain attention and focus. Children are incredibly well supported to develop resilience, particularly when something challenges them. Staff recognise children's non-verbal subtle cues and gestures, such as when their bodies tense, and they say 'stuck' when they cannot disconnect construction pieces. Staff support through exaggerated facial expressions, sign language, alongside clearly spoken repetitive words, which enable children to understand that their feelings are recognised. Staff give children time and model a deep breath out, which children respond to. As their bodies relax, this enables them to keep trying. Children persist until they achieve, and smile as they say, 'not stuck'. The targeted support and encouragement children receive as they begin to understand their own emotions is highly successful and motivational as children stretch their abilities.

Leaders put every effort into establishing incredibly well considered, respectful environments that provide continued challenge, where staff champion children to achieve. Staff put every effort into considering how to make transitions smooth, familiar and predictable, reflecting the needs of every child. For instance, some listen and respond to patterned rhythmic singing, 'everybody listens, one more minute', others benefit from now and next visual boards which staff take the time to show children. These opportunities enable children to prepare for what is happening next. The bespoke and highly successful strategies help children to develop immensely secure understanding of the daily routines.

Each child's transition to school is tailored to support their individual journeys and used as an exemplar to other settings by the local authority. Those who go on to attend mainstream school benefit from collaborative working with leaders and staff throughout their first term at school. They provide the ongoing specialist support to the schools to ensure children's transition is as smooth as possible. This demonstrates dedication to ensure children's wellbeing and learning needs are met even beyond their time with them.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Exceptional

The staff team understand that children need to feel safe, valued and respected to make the exceptional progress they do. There is significant focus on developing remarkable attachments with children. This means children receive personalised, highly respectful care, which is embedded through meticulously considered routines. Staff prioritise children's rights and voice, such as in preparation for nappy changes. They ensure children are supported through any care giving processes, respecting their rights to privacy and to be safe. Through precision teaching and the embedded routines children learn how to keep themselves healthy such as, washing their hands before delving into snack time, and learning to explore new food textures, such as fresh fruit.

Staff ensure the introduction of specialist equipment needed for children is done sensitively. For example, they work with commendable dedication to increase children's initial exposure to new equipment such as, time wearing leg splints to enable children to access other ranges of equipment. Staff recognise these are big steps for children and can cause anxieties. Ultimately, these experiences enable children to manage their own emotions and make transformational, sustained progress overtime. The warm, trusting relationships staff develop with children is astounding and enables them to develop the vital foundations for children to fully access the curriculum and bespoke learning opportunities with anticipation.

Leadership and governance: Exceptional

Leader's attitudes and approaches to inclusion are awe inspiring. They recognise the unique provision they offer to children who face significant barriers to their learning and their families, and the lifeline this provides them. Leader's vision is to make a difference, advocating for additional funding, specialist support and resources, and creating the best experience for children while in their care and beyond. They provide specialist support at home and help parents to make a real sustained difference to children and families lives outside the centre. Leaders recognise the expertise they can offer the wider community. For instance, they provide open groups that enable other families in the local area to seek specialist support, advice, and reduce feelings of isolation. The inspirational leaders also support other early years providers, sharing their extremely high standards of care, teaching and the bespoke set up of the environment. Furthermore, leaders invite other special educational needs coordinators, additional support workers, and early years specialist working in the local authority inclusion team, to observe and learn from their exceptional practice, and special environment to influence and empower change.

Staff are passionate and dedicated in their roles, they report leaders are highly supportive, inspirational, and share that working at the centre is a great privilege. Leaders and staff endeavour to continually refresh their knowledge and keep their skillset up to date, always striving to enhance their practice even further. Staff supervision arrangements are tailored and actively promote reflection and continued professional development. In addition, staff benefit from morning briefings from leaders as a collective team which is superbly organised before children arrive, and enable the whole team to be consistently supported to stay up to date. The collaborative working with other professionals and parents is praiseworthy and provides children with a consistent approach to achieve. Leaders, alongside their staff team, have a transformational impact on children, whose lives have been substantially changed due to the dedication and perseverance to do the best they can for every child and their family.