BUILDING INCLUSION FOR CHILDREN WITH SEND IN THE EARLY YEARS

Dingley's Promise works with children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to give them the best start in education, and has a unique model that uses this specialist early intervention to give them the best chance to experience mainstream, inclusive education.

Having identified a gap in accredited training for early years' settings on inclusive practice, Dingley's Promise developed a level 3 course to give early years practitioners the confidence, skills and knowledge to work inclusively.

Since its launch in 2018, practitioners who have completed the four month long training have reported huge increases in confidence and knowledge. Independent analysis by Reading University reveals an average of a 114% increase in places for children with SEND as a result of the training.

In early 2020, with the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the training was adapted to create an abridged version that was offered for free across the UK. Over lockdown, 737 practitioners signed up for the course, all prepared to develop their skills and become inclusion champions.

Using carefully developed online materials, this project spread good practice on inclusive working across the UK, opening up hundreds of new spaces for children with SEND in the early years.