by Diane Martin (our setting SENCo)
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Diane.
I am preschool room leader but I am also the nursery SENCO. People often ask me ‘why do you take on this role?’ so I thought you might like to hear a little bit about me, my role at Little Stars and why I do what I do.
Working in childcare for the last 24 years, alongside my interest and love of child development sits another strong passion; supporting the needs of children and their families with SEND. But why?
I feel every child with SEND is unique, having their own individual personality and capabilities. I don’t see a diagnosis as a label but more an insight into the child’s struggles and answer to why! and it certainly doesn’t mean that child can’t progress in life. There’s no better feeling than the reward of a child who has achieved just one small milestone. This could be something such as putting on their own shoes or making eye contact with another child, to bigger moments such as speaking for the first time or putting their hands into the sand tray. You could say these are achievements for any child but for children with SEND the barriers to achieving these are often so much bigger. To put on a shoe means overcoming physical co-ordination difficulties or to make eye contact means acknowledging the presence of another person. To touch sand means all the anxiety you hold over something of that texture must be put to one side. Often these are milestones that people presume a child with SEND won’t achieve, but this is certainly not the case. To be a SENCO means you need to have high hopes and aspirations for these children. You show up every day ready to support them on their journey, you know them inside out and know exactly what it means when the people working with them are cheering over those small things and sharing them with anyone that will listen. It’s not to say the paperwork isn’t endless, the forms keep coming and you have to evidence EVERYTHING you do, but when you have that passion for SEND the rewards far out way the workload.
In my role as SENCO, I want to share my knowledge with others and build an awareness of SEND and the things we can do to give these children the best start in life. One of my favourite parts is working with families, meeting to discuss their child’s achievements and watching the faces of parents as they realise their child is experiencing things they never thought possible. It’s an honour to be part of these journeys and every SEND child that comes through our doors truly has a place in my heart.
I’m proud to say over the years I have supported numerous children to make successful transitions from nursery to primary school, enabling them to thrive as they enter the next part of their educational journey. The staff at Little Stars are passionate in their roles to support these children, going above and beyond to make that child feel involved and part of everything we do.
I believe our environment is and should be accessible to every child no matter what challenges they face. We can adapt and work around the needs of every child that comes to us. Children with SEND are part of the Little Stars family and I am proud to say how well they are integrated into our rooms by both their peers and staff working alongside them. You could walk into any of our rooms and I guarantee you wouldn’t spot that SEND child, they are there, but engaged and busy alongside their peers which is exactly how it should be!
Little Stars Day Nursery 