Taken DS out of cr*p preschool - good idea?

[smugtandemfeeder]

DS has had a number of settling in sessions at a local preschool. We have found the staff pretty rude and the facilities awful to say the least. We have decided to take him out of there. We dont need to send him to a preschool.

However - supportive parents pointed out that that gives us less evidence for a statement appeal as DS would not have been attending.

In my opinion the school seems hell bent on proving that children do not need statements "we took a photo of him smiling - see - he's fine" DS does not seem fine. We havent given it much of a chance but both dh and I have a bad feeling about it. We have stayed with him for all sessions and he increased his confidence a bit playing apart from us. We left him once and the SENco said he sat on his lap the whole time and didnt play and asked to come home but the head teacher has emailed to say he was very happy and they have photos to prove it!!!

School has emailed asking me to reconsider.

Is it at all worth keeping a 3 hour place held over the summer so that we still have area senco support and so we get 6 months evidence.

Cut all ties now?!!! Run for the hills!!!

[Al1son]

I would say go and look at some other settings and see if they make you feel more comfortable.

Clearly a child smiling is not evidence that their individual needs are being met so you are right to question that if they are seriously linking the photo to the need for a statutory assessment.

I would normally advise parents to keep their child at home with them of that is what they feel is best because I firmly believe that pre-school care benefits parents far more than it does children apart from the last 6 months before starting school. However if you feel that you need evidence of your child's needs you will find it easier to get this in cooperation with Early Years practitioners. It could just as easily be a nursery of childminder as a pre-school.

I would contact a few and ask about how they manage special needs.

[Starchart]

You can't be refused a statement due to lack of evidence.

It can help to be in no setting because you are his chief educational setting and educator. You have no-one to deny what you are saying or undermine it.


I believe the only reason I got a statement for ds was BECAUSE he wasn't in a setting when I applied. Didn't have to do all that SA then SA+ nonsense and the school aren't trying hard enough nonsense.

[lisad123]

Im not sure what your ds issues are but we pulled DD2 out of her crappy preschool as they failed to reconize any of her issues, refused to belive the proffessionals when they went for a visit and pointed out her "TRaits" and their reply was always "all children do that". They also came to her assessment and stated all this and delayed her dx by 6 months. Lucky for us DD2 was at a special school 3 sessions a week who knew what they were talking about, and has an amazing Specialist SALT, and OT.
I say go with your gut.

[smugtandemfeeder]

Right well thats decided then. I just doubted myself as I rang supportive parents and they said I had no evidence on which to appeal and that it was a mistake to take him out of the preschool. They sort of told me there was no point appealing refusal to assess and I know I have been advised on here many times that that isnt true. I think they just made me have a wobbly moment!

We have found a nice private nursery which will either be amazing or perfectly showcase DSs problems. Not sure which way its going to go. Private nurserys work differently though dont they - they dont have to help as much unless they have a statement?

[lisad123]

never doubt yourself. We now have DD2 in a wonderful nursery plus her Special school twice a week. She gets weekly SALT, and going for statement.

Did you do the askign for statement via paperwork ect? Or just a verbal request?

[smugtandemfeeder]

official paperwork.

[smugtandemfeeder]

sorry, replied on my phone, it lost most of my message. will type again!l type again!

[smugtandemfeeder]

Right, so. We applied using the official letter and official paperwork. We received a refusal to assess last week so we have 7 weeks or so to appeal. As soon as I got the refusal I thought right, ive beggered this up. Everyone in RL kept suggesting I ring supportive parents which I duly did. They said they didnt think they could help me as I didnt have any evidence and was I absolutely sure I had cancelled the preschool. Hence my doubts.

They said my childminder couldnt produce very useful evidence unless she had put in place a play plan.

I have the IPSEA appeal pack and will read it and appeal properly.

Ed Psych is currently refusing to assess DS until December.

[smugtandemfeeder]

Does the school holidays make any difference to the two month appeal time?

[pigletmania]

My goodness I am having the opposite, dd pre school attached to the primary school which she is going in September, have been very pro active. As soon as they identified issues of concern with dd, have applied for statement, got Ed pysch involved, Sendis, and want to be involved. I was like in denial, that she would be fine, but as dd is gotten older the issues are more pronounced. The school applied for another statement after being rejected in November, and we have got accepted to the next stage which is good.

[Agnesdipesto]

Smug the private nursery should still get some delegated SEN money and should also be able to apply for extra funding for 1:1. the SEN officers should be able to tell you or the early years specialist teachers of Area SENCO. Before we got a statement we could get 50 or 75% of DS nursery hours funded with 1:1 up to 30 hours (we only used 15). the % depended on how delayed across how many EYFS areas
So we got the 15 hour free place but they paid for 75% x 15 hours of 1:1.
If we had done 30 hours we would have had to pay for the childcare but they would have paid for the 1:1
It was called inclusion funding. If you type PVI (private, voluntary and independent sector) funding+SEN into your Council website you might find it.
ALWAYS ask for a copy of the written policy its amazing how they fob you off with the detail about how to apply / how much until you get it in writing.
In our LA the nursery have to complete a form, get some professional advice from those involved (just brief) and then it goes to the same Panel as statements.
We had this funding for a few months before the statement came through (which upped it to 100% 1:1)

You can then still collect evidence for a statement at private nursery eg we were able to show even 75% and then fulltime 1:1 with occasional SALT / autism outreach was not enough and won specialist provision

LAs prefer you in school nurseries as they have more control. eg our private nursery were prepared to say outreach was crap which did not go down well.

Because the 15 hours is paid for by the State a private nursery is treated the same as a school nursery eg you can get the same outreach / SALT etc support put in, it counts as a maintained mainstream placement because the 15 hours is free.

[smugtandemfeeder]

Interesting interesting. I didnt know that. Fabulous.

The private nursery we have chosen is a very fancy place which has a 20 acre garden. We thought it would be good because DS likes a lot of space and it is outstanding rated with ofsted. However when I went to the settling in sessions, they hardly do any free play at all. Its incredibly regimented and no fidgetting is allowed.

We think DS has PDA.....

Either he will prove us wrong and absolutely thrive with the rules and regulations or else it will be a perfect perfect perfect showcase for him needing 1:1 and not being able to cope. PDA + regimeted nursery = Certain failure!!!

I havent told the Area SenCo about the new nursery yet. Not sure why. I went to a lot of trouble to get the 1:1 at the old one. Now im sending DS off to new regimented nursery without extra support (but have told them about his problems).

I guess part of me is scared DS will just be a bit anxious when im not there rather than doing all the things he does at home. I know that sounds crazy. Its a good thing if he doesnt need help. I just know he does need someone with him. I know he would rather be at home. I know I dont need to send him. Argh. So many emotions.

[feynman]

Get your appeal in asap. There is no reason why your child not being in preschool should prevent an assessment. In my case my son was in a state preschool. (Well he moved there after I'd applied). They catagorically told me that there were no problems, he did not need a statement, there was no way he would ever get one, there was no way they would support an application for a statement etc etc, the ed pysch also told me the same things. Hes just got a statement for 32.5 hrs ta support with daily salt from ta fortnightly direct salt sessions and weekly ot!
This wasnt easy and I had to pay for private reports but it was so worth it. We were also tured down by lea initally and had to appeal the decsion not to assess. We've also had to lodge a tribunal appeal to get this far, but it is do-able. Not an easy road but you just have to be more determined than they are.

Regarding the pre-school I would go with your gut. Mums do usually know best!