Would you move to a specialist preschool to prep for mainstream?

[Zinzinner]

DD4 has been in private nursery since she was 1. She has ASD, speech delay and noise sensitivity which is worse over winter. She is happy and settled but in terms of nursery working on any of her additional needs, its been pretty bare. She just sorts of bobs along as she is. We have inclusivity funding and nursery have drafted an EHCP which I an hoping will bring in more support. Its issue is its a large nursery and a large preschool room I guess..

There is a nursery chain near me that already has an exceptional SEN nursery and they are about to open a new site that is specifically aimed at children who are delaying their school reception start and also have ASD. They have a small ratio, and have regular sessions with speech therapy, occupational therapy etc etc. The whole aim is to prep the children ready for mainstream school. Like a wonderful bootcamp!

I am keen but my husband is hesitant to move her as he says it will be disruptive, and I think he is nervous about her moving into an environment with other ND kids will mean its a bigger shock to then go into school next year with the noise and NT kids?

What would you do?

I would bite their hands off if you can get her a space. Early intervention is incredibly valuable. And if she has interventions and still needs more help you’ll find that helpful evidence to get better support in the ehcp.

I would grab that opportunity with both hands if it looks suitable for her!

Thank you for confirming! I think DH is worried because its honestly taken her YEARS to come out of her shell at nursery and she is loving going, he is worried about upsetting the apple cart.

How will that be funded?
I assume that they are going to be reliant on additional funding either from the LA or parents? Is it guaranteed?

I would move to a school nursery, ideally at the school you want. They can do the EHCP and be named. Much simpler.

Think carefully about delaying a reception start- it cant just be put in place by the nursery- it is part of a formal process. Your child will no longer be a priority for a place as they won't be in a statutory year from placement and SEND is not automatically a reason to delay.

She’s 4. You do not write off the entire next 7 years just to avoid a bit of disruption for a 4yo. Most children are moving from nurseries to primary at that age anyway, and of course it’s taken years for her to come out of her shell as she was only a baby! Imagine how much quicker she would have found her feet with specialist help tailored especially for her. It will be scary at first, and it may set her back a little at first, it’ll surely be worth it though, won’t it? Part of being a parent is having to make these sort of decisions for their long term well being, instead of choosing the easy option for an easy life

We already have a formal agreement with the LA and 5 local schools regarding delayed reception - she is summer born.

Not sure what you mean by funded? All children must have an EHCP which would then access the various resources. And then you obviously fees as you would as normal.

totally agree. I understand why he doesnt want this good streak we are on to change and theres fear in the unknown him, but change is coming whether he likes it or not and this is an incredible option for her.

Has the provision been set up by the LA- albeit in a private setting?
Is it teacher led?
Is she eligible for EY finding for the whole year (summer born?)
The top up model you are describing is very non-typical. You should not be paying any fees at all if it is linked to an EHCP and for a child of reception age.

All you pay for is nursery fees as you would any other private setting.

i have no idea how the mechanics work but I imagine there is work with the LA - to access this setting, during application they hold a multi agency support meeting which I’m presuming is why you must have the EHCP in place:
They already have a general specialist nursery that has an outstanding Ofsted rating.

to be explicitly clear - this is for children starting school at compulsory school age - this isn’t an alternative school reception. It’s a private nursery/preschool specifically for those children who are delaying starting reception who have ASD.