Any tips for transition to reception?

[1995SENNDMUM]

DS starts reception at SEN school in September, he's autistic and non verbal so a lot of the typical suggestions for transition are a no go for him.

So wondering if anyone with similar children found anything helpful to manage the transition?

Is DS having visits to the school?

Photographs/videos of the school/playground/classroom/staff etc. help some.

A transition meeting between the preschool setting and reception teacher and/ or SENCO and yourself is really helpful. Any supporting professionals involved would be beneficial too e.g.advisory teacher. These are more common for transition to Mainstream. There isn’t always a Senco as such in special though the head is usually designated.

Lots of schools do home visits and this is your opportunity to talk about individual needs including sensory, toileting, eating special interests etc.
Often there are “All about Me” booklets to fill in but this might not go into enough detail so I’d think about producing your own too.

Some special schools do one visit in Summer term with preschool staff or parents. Children often visit Reception whilst new parents are in the welcome meeting too. The staff will probably visit the preschool to observe him and speak to staff.

Please be reassured that in Special they will be geared up for your DS needs with their communication approach, well trained staff and appropriate facilities and equipment.
You can expect a team approach and great communication with yourself.
If he’s going on transport the all about me booklet might be helpful for the escort.
Try not to worry too much and well done on getting a place.

I ve called them this week and there's no transition visits before the summer holidays it seems. All I ve been told is to expect paperwork in the next couple of weeks and the parents meeting without children is in July They do a part time timetable for the beginning of September as far as I ve understood instead. They ve an excellent social media page with photos that i can show him of the rooms but there's not many of the staff themselves sadly.

Our nursery sencos reached out to them offering a meeting and some time for them to observe him this month but no luck with a response yet. she's writing up a transition document for them too as some of his EHCP section A is a little out of date. For a mainstream nursery they ve been excellent with him so I know they ll give his school plenty of good info about his needs and specific interests.

To put it kindly the specialist advisory teacher this academic year hasn't been great and the nursery has only gotten one visit from them when it should have been 2/3 by now so I m not too bothered if they aren't going to be involved as she doesn't really know him.

The welcome meeting appears to be in July and parents only which is the only info I ve gotten on it, it seems they start the children part time for a few days in September then see how they get on.

We re incredibly lucky to live close enough that he's not eligible for transport, it's a pleasant 1.5 mile walk which I know it's nothing short of a miracle that we got the place.

There really was nothing I could fault when visiting before naming the school. I guess I m just nervous that it seems the transition will just be straight into it in September and just the one group parent meeting if they don't take up the nurseries offer.

In case it is relevant in the future, transition arrangements can be included in F of the EHCP.

Is the advisory teacher provision detailed, specified and quantified in F?

That’s a shame that the advisory teacher hasn’t been supportive.
I’d be checking re transport as 1.5 miles is a long walk after a tiring day at school especially for a young child with additional needs.
I know it is usually 2 miles for distance but additional needs are taken into consideration.
I would worry about safety too re the minibuses arriving and leaving school. I’m sure there will be procedures in place.
Very few children in the special primary I taught at ( and later based at as teacher/ manager in the support service) were collected by parents.
You do sound happy with that option though so see how it goes.
Sounds like the school will meet his needs and expect he will settle quickly. I wouldn’t worry too much about staff photos he will be supported by lots of adults.

Living close doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t eligible for transport if you require it. The statutory walking distance isn’t relevant if DS can’t reasonably be expected to walk to school because of his SEN.

The advisory teacher is listed as one visit termly so it's not been followed since we got his ehcp in February.

I have brought it up to the nursery senco who is raising it with them and will see what the schools thoughts are on them. As in all honesty the advisory teachers reports have always been 90% quite basic advice that nursery and I already knew about so whether having one actually adds much value is debatable (it's a council specialist teaching service rather than an independent advisor).

Sorry I missed a key detail there, he's not going to walk any of it (unless he wants to /makes some progress with his road safety when he's walking) I ll be taking him along in his McLaren buggy which I ve quite often pushed back from places without him in so it won't be too bad ( there's also a good bus route when the weather's bad and he ll have a bus pass when he's 5 for that).

I know we d be able to push for transport under the danger clause as he can't walk it all himself. At the moment I feel more comfortable trying to get him there myself as he d likely struggle a little with a minibus, we d have to try a creiling harness or something for him to stay sat in his seat I imagine too since they won't get his massive rear facing option in one. It ll take roughly a similar amount of time to me going with the ridiculous amount of traffic during school run time where we are, so it doesn't feel like I d be making it much longer for him.

The transition bit of his EHCP just says a extended slow transition, we did actually end up with a private EP from a different council for the echna so I m not sure if the LA one would have written something more there (can't complain really, it was a miracle we got one and the communication and sensory areas are incredibly detailed for interventions for the school to provide).

Sorry I should I have said, I won't be expecting him to walk any of the route, I ll be pushing him along in his McLaren buggy.

He can't walk that far due to his sen so I know as a plan B I could push for transport but there's so many schools and colleges near us that traffic is ridiculous in rush hour, so really I ll be almost as fast as him being stuck on the bus and we d have to find a specialist car seat or crieling harness situation for one (he's in a mainstream erf high limit seat in DHs car) so if I can make it work myself then I d rather do that.

I ll definitely speak to school about what's safest for drop offs and pick up, as you say I may be one of very few parents doing it.

Our parent pick ups were at the front via Reception and the children on transport left via the back.
Buggy sounds like a great option as they can be on transport a while.