Support available to schools

Find out about the support available to educational settings. 

The SEN Early Years Inclusion Service (SENEYIS) supports children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) arising from difficulties in one or more of the following SEND Categories, which the Education Authority (EA) and schools are required to use to record children with SEND:

  • Cognition and Learning (CL)
  • Social, Behavioural, Emotional and Well-being (SBEW)
  • Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)

The SENEYIS is a regional service made up of a team of professionals with knowledge, understanding and specific training and experience in early years education and SEND.

Our team supports children who are in their final pre-school year (the school year in which a child reaches 4 years old) and children who are in their pre-nursery year (the school year in which they reach 3 years old).  We also work with children who have opted to defer starting primary school.

We provide training, advice and support, and work in partnership with other professionals for the effective inclusion of children with SEND. Children referred to our Service may have needs in the areas of cognition and learning, speech, language and communication, and/or social, behavioural, emotional and wellbeing.

We work within the early years phase of education supporting nursery schools, nursery units, non-statutory pre-school settings and playgroups.

Training

One of our key roles is to support the professional learning of staff within early education settings.

This includes a mixture of online and face to face training which setting staff may access via the Children and Young People's Service Training Programme

We also offer the Leadership & Management of SEND and Inclusion in the Pre-School Setting: A Programme for Pre-school Leaders’ course through the Children and Young People's Service Training Programme.

Training and workshops for parents/carers of referred children are available on key themes, and on transitioning from pre-school to Primary 1. Parents will be given information about available training and workshops in their area from the team member who has been assigned to their child.

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Contact the SEN Early Years Service

The SEN Early Years Service can be contacted for advice and information specific to pre-school children who have, or may have, special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).