Hello from the Early Years SEND Team!
We are part of Cognus Limited. Cognus is owned by the London Borough of Sutton to deliver education services. We work in partnership with many other education services and with schools and settings to support inclusion, well-being and education outcomes in our Borough.
The Job of the Early Years SEND Advisors…
in particular, is to give advice, support, and practical help to our early years colleagues in any Ofsted registered childcare / early education settings. This includes childminders, day nurseries, pre-schools, independent school early years departments (we call this sector the PVI) and Nursery and Reception classes in schools.
We help to train…
the named SENDCo in the PVI settings and provide other training, including bespoke training where requested.
We work very closely with…
colleagues from other services, including Health Services (Health Visitors, Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Community Paediatricians etc.), Educational Psychology, the PlayWise Portage Team and other teams within Sutton.
We help practioners…
on all sorts of SEND issues, to develop and improve their inclusive practice and support where there are challenges.
How do we work with families and schools?
We are available to help in many ways, from visiting the setting to observe an individual child, meeting with parents (if required) and staff to discuss concerns, helping to understand reports from other colleagues, helping to draw up individual plans for the child, signposting on or making further referrals.
We can provide support to any Ofsted registered Early Years Provider in the London Borough of Sutton.
When visiting a setting or school to support an individual child with additional needs, the setting will feed back any advice and strategies to the parent/carer. We are happy to further discuss parental concerns if required..
Early Year settings and/or school SENCos can make a request for SEND support regarding individual children via a request form. Some children are brought to our attention via a notification from a health professional.
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- Training for members of the public to become ready to apply to Ofsted for registration as a childminder
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- Preparation for Early Years Ofsted inspections, maintaining practice and grade improvement
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- Facilitate and provide training on all aspects of the EYFS, including training the PVI settings’ SENCos
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- Guide and support settings to be inclusive in their practice
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- Guide and support settings to achieve quality assurance awards
Ordinarily Available Provision
The Early Years Ordinarily Available Provision Guidance has been developed to help families, settings, and professionals understand what this support looks like in practice and reflects national expectations for inclusive, high-quality early years education.
Funding Guide for Early Years SENCOs
Click the image for the 2025/2026 model of targeted SENDIF funding
Early Years Support Package
Click the image to view the training and development opportunities available for mainstream settings which are fully funded and available for all practitioners and settings supporting children in the early years in Sutton.
How can we communicate with parents/carers?
We welcome communication from parents/carers so we can work together to support your children. Please do contact us if there is anything you wish to discuss (see contact details below) and we welcome feedback and ideas of improving our service. Please inform us of how you wish to be contacted and any adjustments we can consider to help you receive and understand information. Please also keep your contact details up-to-date with us.
We use Egress as a secure platform to send confidential information to parents / carers.
This system is used by the whole of Cognus. Once you have signed up, you do not need to enter your details again. If you have any problems accessing emails from us, please let us know.
Early Years SEND Advisers
| Early Years Team | eysend@cognus.org.uk | 020 8323 0413 |
| Lisa Sheridan | lisa.sheridan@cognus.org.uk | 020 4534 1084 |
| Michelle Williamson | michelle.williamson@cognus.org.uk | 020 8152 3980 |
| Debbie McHugh | debbie.mchugh@cognus.org.uk | 020 8078 5623 |
| Laura Langan | laura.langan@cognus.org.uk | 020 4582 0252 |