Willow Children's Centre

Islington London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England.Islington home pageWillow Children’s Centre achieved OUTSTANDING in the last OFSTED inspection. ‘The inspirational senior management team creates a highly focused ethos, which is reflected in the positive attitudes of staff, parents and children. Meeting children’s care, well-being and learning needs is central to all that they do. Staff and parents develop excellent partnership working to secure the best possible outcomes for children’.We welcome children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. Our vision for all children with SEND is that they achieve well in their early years and beyond and lead happy and fulfilled lives.
We have experience of working with children with a wide range of needs including autism, global developmental delay, down syndrome, speech delay, complex trauma, emotional needs.
We aim to provide a broad, balanced and high quality curriculum, which is inclusive, accessible and supports children with SEND, taking into account their interests, preferences and individual needs. We will ensure that children with SEND engage in activities together with those who do not have SEND, and participate fully in the life of the nursery and in any wider community activity.
Some children will start attending the setting with special educational needs or a disability already identified. For some, difficulties with their development will begin to emerge while they are with us. Where a child is identified as having SEN or disabilities, to enable the child to participate, learn and make progress, we will remove barriers to learning and put effective, personalised special educational provision in place through a four-part cycle, known as the graduated approach. We ensure that the views of children and their families are taken into account and that they are actively involved in planning and decision making throughout.
We recognise the importance of early identification and the timely provision of appropriate high-quality support, together with high aspirations and expectations of children with special educational needs help children achieve the best possible outcomes. We deliver a range of evidence based support and interventions including language groups, play therapy, sing and sign, Read it 2, Attention Builders and sensory room at Arsenal.
The centre benefits from working in collaboration with specialist partners in education, health and social care to ensure early identification and appropriate support. These include speech and language therapists; clinical psychologists; educational psychologists; health visitors, Social Communication Team; Early Years Development Team; audiology; community nursing; physiotherapists; occupational therapists; Richard Cloudesley Outreach Service; Downright Excellent.
Our Over Threes SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) holds Qualified Teacher Status. Our Under Threes SENCO holds Early Years Professional Status.  The skills and training of our SENCOs and staff include autism awareness, social communication, meaningful transitions for children with SEND, trauma, Makaton, speech/sound awareness. Our Islington link Area SENCO provides us with support, advice and training regarding children with SEND.
You can download a copy of our Special Needs and Disability Policy.