nursery funding for 1:1?????

[Cookie7789]

Hi does anyone know if my daughter (3 years old) is entitled to 1:1 funding? She’s due to start preschool & they say she’s only entitled to 15 hours free childcare but I have friends who’s Sen children get free 1:1 (including the few 15 hours) funding for their children.

[Satch76]

My son gets 1:1 support at nursery. It's called discretionary funding. The nursery have to fill in relevant paperwork and send all your evidence, reports, diagnosis, send support arrangements etc to the council.
A SEN panel will then meet at the council to discuss this and your child's needs and decide whether it should be granted.
If successful the Nursery will be allocated a certain amount of hours to fund a 1:1. The maximum is 15 hours. You might not always get the full amount.
It can take a couple of months to sort.
So you will have the free 15 childcare hours anyway and this will be an additional amount for 1:1 funding.

[LiefievdM]

Yes our 2.5 year old DS also has 1:1 funded by LA. The nursery had to apply for "Early Years Inclusion Funding". I guess it might be called different things in different areas. The 15 hours free is a completely seperate thing and all 3 year olds are entitled to that. There is also something called Disability Acccess Fund, which is another funding source that nursery can apply for if you get DLA.

Your LA should have someone in the role of something like "Early Years Inclusion Officer". Worth contacting them to discuss how your child can access education.

[dimples76]

Yes, my son has had 1:1 (9 hours a week) since he was 2.5. Nursery (with Ed Psych's support) applied for it. Maybe ask to speak to the nursery SENCO

[magicroundabouts]

Yes, my son has funding too. It is called SENIF (Special Education Needs Inclusion Fund) funding here. Preschool applied directly to the LA.

[Fairylea]

Yes my son had 1 to 1, as others have said the nursery has to apply to the LA directly and they are given a pot of funding. If you haven’t already I would apply for an ehcp now (through your council) as they can take a long time (ours took a year, they are only supposed to take 20 weeks but many take much longer!) and you want this in place long before school is being talked about as this will either give you 1 to 1 or extra support at school or enable you to apply for a special school place nearer the time.

[NeverTrustASmilingCat]

My daughter was given Exceptional Needs Funding for her 1 to 1, for a maximum of 15 hours whilst she's in nursery, something like 25 hours when she goes to school.

[hazeyjane]

The criteria for inclusion funding has been tightened in some areas, so make sure you talk to the senco at the preschool to put a good case forward. It can also take time to come through, and whilst some preschools are happy to cover the cost of a 1-1 until funding comes through, many aren't. Good luck.

[EssexMummy123456]

In our area things have tightened, to get additional support at nursery they have to termly assess for the LEA and its only if no progress is shown that additional funding will be granted.

[Onceuponatimethen]

Call contact a family - they recently helped my dB successfully apply for 1:1