1:nursery support. who pays?

[kissyfurschaos]

Hello all.
DS 2.8 is undergoing Statautory Assessment and is due a visit from ED PSYCH. His nursery manager says he will need 1:1 by the time he is three and ratios change to 1:8. She said nursery wont have the funds to provide it.
I currently get tax credits at 80% of the fees but i'd never be able to afford 80% of 1:1. Any advise please. Am an lone parent with low income job. I work in a school and job is like gold dust so dont want to leave it as DS starts school in 2011 and it will fit around that perfectly.

p.s work 3 days a week and need DS in nursery 8-4.

Doesn't he get a fully-funded 15hour place from the age of 3? How many hours do you work?

By the way, it isn't up to you to fund the 1:1. The nursery cannot turn a child away based on their SEN unless they have VERY good reasons that will stand up in court. They are trying it on because if they make you worry enough you might fight the LA to give them money.

Work 19 hours but have to add travelling time. I was so uset after the meeting I have found him another nursery but dont really want to move him as he loves the sta. It was the new cow of a manager who said it.
Now i'm wanting to retract termination of contract.
It's not DS's or my fault he has additional needd. Have had many a sleepless night over it.

Can you phone IPSEA or SEN SOS in the morning. They will know what you should do next. Don't be upset yet. There are ignorant people in the world and you can't protect yourself and your ds from them forever, but you can get a thicker skin. Very sorry this is happening though.

Thanks can I google them? Or do you have a number?
I get the impression DS doesn't fit for her at her country nursery. ds took ages to settle and now adores the nursery nurses and i'm worried about the change in routine.

You can google - definately. In general, they are easier to get hold of in the evenings when most parents are doing the bedtime routine.

I think you might have a case for disability discrimination, but in any case you do need to know your rights. Generally, if you think it is wrong, it probably is.

Finally, it might be a good idea to write to this woman and throw everything she said back in her face. Say 'Dear X, Just writing to clarify I understood correctly the conversation we had to day, where you informed me of y, and z. Can you confirm that I did understand and this is a correct account?'

That sends several messages:

1)you are not a pushover
2)You have evidence
3)you are documenting your interactions with her so she better be extremely sure of her ground.

It is important that you collect evidence like this now and in anticipation of any future potential run-ins.

hth

the local authority fund the 1:1. The nursery should know this! You can ask them to get in touch with the area senco and flag up that he has SEN and ask for info on applying for funding. They can get this before 3 - here you can get £300 a term before 3 and then up to 75% of hours child attends nursery as 1:1 without a statement under local funding rules. For over 75% you need a statement. You can also ring the Council yourself and ask to speak to SEN officer and ask to be sent info on funding streams available.It is not your responsibility to pay for the 1:1. This is a special educational need and the local authority has a duty to pay it if he needs it. But usually you can't apply for it as a parent, the nursery have to make the application so they are wrong to put this on you.

If you work there should be a scheme that tops up the 1:1 for hours over the 12.5 or 15 hour entitlement. But in my area it is 30 hours maximum term time only so not much use to anyone who works fulltime.

If nursery is useless you might want to think about alternatives eg a school nursery often has a bigger budget and more clued up on 1:1 etc

is it def an ofsted inspected nursery?

contact the area inclusion officer at the lea and explain. some leas's have pots of cash for under 3's, some will not fund 1-1 until they are eligible for normal state free place etc.

a lot does depend on your lea. our first one funded entirely a 2 day place from dd2's first birthday. the second one provided 15 hours until the pre-school year, when they would fund full time. the third one paid for 1-1 for whatever sessions we paid for (she was pre-school year by that point).

if it comes out as 1-1 support f/t in his statement it's nowt to do with you. let the nursery argue the toss with the lea and don't get involved. if that nursery is down as the named placement it's fine. of course, the lea might decide that a cheaper different setting would be more appropriate anyway...

speak to inco.

I'm in a school so may be different but we have two children who need 1-1 support (3 year olds in nursery class) both receive 4/5 of the cost of support from the LA and the school has to fund support for the extra session.

Dd2 receives 1 hour of 1:1 a day, she's at nursery for 3 hours 3 days a week, i'm not sure if they will only supply 1:1 for the hours of childcare that the goverment pay for (15 hours a week). Dd2's 1:1 was arranged with the nursery through dd2's portage worker (so i didn't really have to do anything).

ds at nursery had funding for 2 1/4 hrs per session by the inclusin team the nursery funded the rest but was inhouse ie more hrs for memeber of staff rather than trained lsa but we did have to wait till ds was 3 .But a lot depends on dc needs do you have any idear of his sn

we moved and ds now attends a nursery ran by mencap and they fund the 1-1 for each dc there and teh differnce in experiance and ds is fantastic to see maybe contact them as well

We are in Scotland - DD was originally given 1 hour a day of 1:1, and nursery struggled, and asked for more, so she has now been given 2 hours a day (out of 2.5) - the nursery had to beg for funding for it from the LEA and we had to wait a term, but they paid it eventually.

as others have said though, this is because she is using her statutory free place, we have been told that if she is to go full-time at the nursery next year (which would be funded if it was to benefit her learning) we would have to fight again for extra hours of support.