To ask the Minister of Education to detail any additional resource that will be provided to non-statutory preschool settings to employ learning support coordinators and prepare Personal Learning Support Plans as required by the draft SEN Code of Practice.

The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) funding provided to schools in anticipation of statutory effect [Learning Support Co-ordinators (LSCs) and Personal Learning Plans (PLPs)] of the SEN/Disability (SEND) Act 2016, is for grant-aided schools only. While non-statutory pre-schools should have regard to the draft SEN Code of Practice, there is no statutory obligation for these settings to employ LSCs or to prepare PLPs.

The Education Authority (EA) has advised that:

The EA’s SEND Implementation and Development team has provided non-statutory pre-school settings with all the resources provided to statutory nurseries to assist with SEN processes. Non-statutory pre-school settings have also been included in the readiness for the Graduated Response training to take place from January 2025. This training will focus on what makes a good PLP, provision mapping and setting specific expected outcomes.

In addition, the Pre-school Education Inclusion Support Fund (PSEISF) was launched in November 2024 and provides resource to all Department of Education (DE) funded pre-school education settings to help them to support children undergoing statutory assessment of their educational needs. The funding may be used flexibly, including to pay for non-contact time to support the development of PLPs or Individual Education Plans (IEPs).