Please provide a tutor for nursery...

[marshallmum]

Hi everyone,

We recently came over to the UK from abroad, so I'm still getting my head around provision & support for my 3 yr old son with ASD.

He is in a MS nursery part-time, it's going OK but the nursery have asked us to provide a 1:1 tutor for him as he requires more support than they can provide (I agree that he needs more support).

My main question is - don't they receive any funding to deal with exactly this type of case? They have not mentioned School Action or School Action plus, or IEP, or anything like that... just that it would be more beneficial to DS if he had a 1:1 tutor (and that it's our job to provide one).

I understand each LEA works differently but before I get stroppy with them, I just want to understand where we stand. Also, as we just put in a request for assessment, I don't know if it's a good idea to call the council and ask them what type of funding the nursery should be giving...

Any ideas/suggestions would be welcome. Thanks very much!!

I am guessing this is a private school?

If not you are absolutely right to expect it to be paid for by the school/nursery/LA.

Yes it's a private nursery (the only one available when we arrived!). But don't they still receive any funding from the LEA for SN children? Or did I get that wrong?

If it's a nursery which receives the Nursery Education Grant and your DS is eligible to receive it (ie. you get 15 hours free education for him) then yes. They should be providing the extra support.

OK thanks lougle - yes, DS does receive the Nursery Education Grant so they should be providing the extra support... I will dig deeper!
Thanks

The should be applying to their LA for 'Inclusion Funding'. If you PM me, giving the name of the Local Authority, I can give you some links. DD1 went to MS preschool and had 1:1 through inclusion funding, before moving on to Special School.

Great news marshallmum Lougle is the best person to find the info for you.

Good luck and I hope you get it sorted. Make sure he is on the SN register at the nursery at at least EYA.