Special educational needs training to support Lincolnshire nursery children

Realise, the UK’s leading early years training provider, has begun its Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinators (SENCO) Skills Bootcamp in the county with the aim of upskilling 20 practitioners already working in a nursery setting.

The Skills Bootcamp has been funded by Lincolnshire County Council and has been launched to meet the urgent need to equip early years professionals with the expertise to provide effective, inclusive and compassionate support with a growing number of children presenting with special educational needs.

This Skills Bootcamp is only open to people already working in a nursery and runs for 12 weeks, with all training delivered online.

Karen Derbyshire, Director of Realise Early Years said: “Right across the UK, we are seeing a big increase in the number of children in nurseries with special educational needs and there is a disparity between that and the number of trained SEN Co-Ordinators.

“The Skills Bootcamp provides a real opportunity for nurseries to redress this balance and allows staff members within the setting to upskill.

“The course will give successful learners the skills, knowledge and techniques to identify and support children with a variety of needs, implement effective strategies tailored to individual children and help navigate referral processes to secure specialist interventions and support services where required.

“The demand for skilled SENCOs has never been higher so we are delighted to be playing our part in helping address that shortage in Lincolnshire.”

The vast majority of the cost of the course is covered by funding, with nurseries having to contribute just 10% if they have less than 250 staff members and 30% if they are a large employer.

Realise currently has nearly 3,000 active early years learners covering apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps and other training programmes across almost 2,000 employers in the UK.