Nursery choice - child with SEND.

[Lifewithcherryd]

Hi All,

im currently torn about what nursery I should now put my daughter in from September who just recently turned 3.

her current nursery (which she has been going to since she was 1 mon-weds all year round) has said they can no longer meet her needs so they have now changed her to term time only, amended hours and she will be leaving them in july. She currently gets Sendif funding and due to all of this I have now even put in a parental requested EHCP in early April in the hopes she gets 1-2-1 support in September with a new nursery.

the problem I’m facing now is choosing the new nursery. As you can imagine, the situation with the old nursery has made me really anxious and uncertain in general about support levels.

for context, she has been diagnosed with PVL, global developmental delay, suspected learning disability and emerging cerebral palsy. She is taking steps but still a bit instead on her feet so trips over items a lot and can take steps (I.e from the road to a pavement or up steps) independently and will need support but generally is a happy go lucky girl. She also isn’t completely independently feeding so needs some support with cutlery (but she can use her hands). She is non verbal with limited understanding and occasionally put things in her mouth.

there are 2 nurseries I’m looking to move her to. One is the only local authority maintained nursery in our city (I heard that’s meant to be better with kids with SEND unlike private nurseries) and the other is a private nursery but they do seem great with SEND kids and have given me great reassurances etc.

my problem with the council one is the location, isn’t the closest to my house plus there is practically no parking nearby (I’ll be driving as I work full time too) so this is going to cause me a bit of stress as it’s mainly double yellows and it is a big nursery school (around 240 children apparently between age 2-3/3-4). It’s term time only (would have preferred all year but what can I do?) and also a packed lunch nursery (which also I’m now dreading too as it’s just easier if they ate the nursery food). But the staff seem on top of the ball, they have a separate room also for kids with send (but they do integrate them) and the headteacher is amazing. Another issue is they start on the 9th September (unlike normal term time) and even with that, they then mentioned a 1-2 week settling in sessions of 1 hour everyday! That’s a lot especially as I already have to juggle annual leave as I have another daughter in reception.

the other private nursery can only do mon-weds term time (I’ve had to accept the term time so that’s fine) and they seem great too. Very close to home and packed lunch only too and decent parking. They don’t have a SEND room but their pre-school room is max 26 kids and decent space.

I would prefer the private nursery however my heart is saying would she be better supported at the council school maybe? I’m really unsure.

have you guys got any experiences or which one would you choose?

any advice or experiences would be really appreciated.

Whether maintained nurseries are better depends on the individual nurseries you are comparing. There isn’t a blanket rule.

When you say the LA one is far away, how far away are you talking?
Would the LA nursery be full days or part days?

Would the private nursery be full days M-W?

What support would both be able to provide is an EHCP isn’t in place? There is no guarantee one will be by September.
If an EHCP is issued, would the private nursery be willing to be named in it?

@perpetualplatespinning LA one is about 10-12 min drive (without traffic). The other one is either walking distance/ 1 min drive.

LA one is full time Mon-Fri 9-3.30. Private is 8-3.30 mon -weds.

in terms of support, she had 15 hours sendif support (when she was doing 8-5 on mon-weds) so they had someone be with her 1-2-1 for about 5 hours everyday with our current nursery. I (alongside her inclusion teacher) don’t think she needs around the clock 1-2-1 it’s more during mealtimes and overseeing especially when outside/ lots of children running.

the LA school already said they’ll already said they’ll be onto the people who manage the EHCP to get it in time otherwise they’ll apply for SENDIF and the council don’t like you having both so they already seem on top of the ball as they took down the date I applied/they acknowledged it.

the private nursery just said they’ll work with her my support plan and will also try to eliminate risk I.e smaller items/ ensure someone is with her bla bla.. but I also think they could apply for sendif too if the EHCP isn’t back in time.

if she has a place at the private nursery, isn’t it a given they could be named in it or do I have to separately ask them? They have said they have reserved a space for her already and so has the council one (which was the last space) so I will have to now decline one.

Unless the 10 min drive is much more at drop off/pick up time, I wouldn’t let the journey time put you off. It isn’t much.

the LA school already said they’ll already said they’ll be onto the people who manage the EHCP to get it in time

Just so you are aware, there is no guarantee with this at all. There is no guarantee you will not have to appeal.

Private settings do not have to agree to being named in an EHCP, so I would directly ask if the private nursery would be willing to be named should DD get an EHCP. Although there is the chance they will change their mind.

Just be aware she won't get one to one. Funding for staff is based on how many children with needs they have. Example 5 child to 1 support staff. So she might get 2 mornings with support staff. The other nurseries also.may cut her hours sometimes it can't be helped. I would put her to a child minder instead.

OP’s DD may get 1:1, at least for some of the day. It depends on what SENDIF funding the nursery receives then what will be detailed, specified and quantified in F of the EHCP. And if the LA refuse to assess (if they haven’t already agreed to assess), refuse to issue or if they issue an EHCP but there isn’t the 1:1 required, OP should appeal.

It will be harder for the maintained nursery school to reduce hours or exclude because of their statutory duties. Even more so if it is a nursery school that is part of a school.

@Mh67 thanks for this and hmm that’s interesting. I’m aware of a few other children that have applied that have been given 1-2-1 with similar diagnosis/ support needs as mine.

unfortunately I had explored the childminder route but most of them do not have any spaces from September especially due to the increased funding for children 9months +.

@perpetualplatespinning thanks again. The 6 weeks deadline for the LA to let me know is actually tomorrow and I’ve already emailed them this morning asking them to confirm that they’ll be sticking to the response time they stipulated (6 weeks). They responded only to ask for her DOB but to be honest I think they know she needs an EHCP.

from what you are saying it appears she will have more security at the LA one. I asked the private one today if they don’t mind being named and they were happy too and said they have loads of experience dealing with SEND, they’ll apply for sendif too and to be fair a council worker also recommended them too.

it seems she will have more security at the council one (which is what I want) but I prefer the private nursery so still confused.

If you think the private nursery meets DD’s better, I wouldn’t be put off by it being private. A supportive nursery wouldn’t just exclude anyway whatever type they were.

Sadly, even if it is clear a child needs an EHCP, it isn’t unheard of for LAs to refuse, I’m afraid.

Could both be an option? Mon-wed at the private then Thurs Friday at the local authority?

@Justtobenosey Never thought that could be an option as the LA one just outright said what they offer. Which was the 30hrs and that pattern.
it’s definitely meant to be more formal as the make a note of attendance etc. Will ask.

to be honest I can deal with the her not going on Thurs/fridays for one more year (until she starts school next year) as a lot of her appointments fall on those days anyways so I’m used to juggling it.

My daughter had an EHCP when she turned 3 (for different needs, autism) and we had the same issue the nursery she attended made it very difficult so we had to change. Have you considered a dual placement? We did 2 days (8:45-3:15) at the local school nursery where her sister went to school, and 2.5 days at the local SEN school. This was named in her EHCP as a dual placement. It took a lot of work with the LA caseworker to get this suitably funded, but I would not back down. I wanted that year to decide which educational setting to apply to for school - mainstream or SEN. I’ve found going to the nursery attached to the school she would possibly attend (and did), the children are very understanding of her and they have been on the journey with her. She was funded 1:1 at the mainstream nursery through her EHCP. Think longer term about schooling.
Also, yes 6 weeks is the time frame, you will find most LAs are wildly exceeding this. Join local parent carer groups if you haven’t already to ask for advice as they would be more knowledgeable in your area. Good luck on your decision making.

Thanks for this @Nothingspecialhere . The LA got back to me on the exact deadline of 6 weeks yesterday to let me know they are going to go ahead and do an assessment which is positive.

your scenario seems great. My issue would be that both are not specifically for SEN kids and I don’t think I’ve found that here and yours both seem to actually be school nurseries rather than just nurseries and there’s only one LA maintained nursery school here.

when she’s been at the private nursery for 2 years she has been great as it’s isn’t too big, the kids understand her and are great with her but I also feel like it’s because she has had a fair bit of 1-2-1 support with the sendif and she was also in the toddler room when ratio is 1:5. In the pre-school room, now she always has a 1-2-1 who helps her to embed in the activities and she still seems to be doing great but unfortunately she still needs to leave here in july.

im actually thinking she may be gearing towards more of a special school (more due to cognition and learning basic skills). If I do the split between the LA nursery school and this private one it will mainly be able to see how she is with a large number of children (la maintained has 240 children) in comparison to smaller groups(the new private one is smaller) (but I think I already know she suits smaller groups better) and mainstream schools focus more on academics rather than life/ basic skills which I think she still needs some support with.

will check local support groups too and see so thank you.

Brilliant to read the LA has agreed to assess. Make sure you request all the necessary advice and information is sought. There should be advice and information from an ed psych anyway but I would be requesting SALT, OT and physio in your situation. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.