SEN Statement Approved but No Staff In Place!

[Mike Dennis]

Hi!

 

My 3 year old son has recently had his SEN statement through, giving him 15 hours per week assistance at his pre-school.

 

He is due to start back next week but the pre-school are really struggling to recruit someone to fill the position of a part-time assistant to fulfil his statement!

Has anyone got any advice please? We don't want to change his pre-school as he seems happy there and we have seen some progress in his time there to date.

 

Any suggestions gratefully received!

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[Karen A]

Hi Mike and Welcome to the Forum.

 

It is good that the Statement has included 15 hours per week support but it is a difficult situation if a person can't be found to fill the post.

 

I covered a similar post in a nursery for a while many years ago before I had any idea Benn had AS.

Where I worked they often found it difficult to fill posts with appropriate staff who were qualified and had relevant experience.

For children in nursery it may only be short term work until the child moves on.Also 15 hours per week does not add up to a lot on an LSA wage.

 

The situation may be no different if you looked at other pre-school provision.Ben was not picked up as needing support until he was in primary school.However I have found that if the school is supportive it makes a bigger difference than one member of staff can make.

In your situation I would be tempted to hold on a little while and hope a suitable person can be found.

Karen.

[Sally44]

I would phone IPSEA and get their advice.

 

IMO it depends on the wording of the Statement. You have 15 hours of support quantified but for what and from whom? Statements need to quantify and specify in terms of hours of provision "and staffing arrangements". Does your son's Statement say he will be supported by a suitably qualified LSA/TA for those 15 hours, or will he have 1:1 for xxx hours, or be in groups of no more than xx other children etc??

 

So firstly I would sit down with the nursery and go through the Statement with a fine tooth comb and ask them how they will fulfill each aspect of it in terms of using the hours of support, and what staffing needs to provide it. (Does the Statement contain quantifield hours of input from OT, or SALT or EP or any other professional??). You need to ensure that that happens as well.

 

If so the simple answer is that you write a letter of non-compliance to your LEA pointing out that your son's Statement says he will receive support for 15 hours from a xxxxxx, and the nursery inform you they have no-one in place for the start date of xxxxx. IPSEA have a template letter you can download and send to the LEA.

 

This gives the LEA 7 days in which to respond. If it is not resolved by then you instruct a specialist solicitor to apply for Judicial Review. You would have to pay the solicitor £300 to begin with, but then the solicitor would be working for your son and not for you, and so you would not need to pay anything else. When a solicitor threatens Judicial Review it usually gets LEAs moving into action. The LEA are responsible for ensuring that the Statement is being fulfilled. I'm sure this situation is not unusual to them.

 

I know this sounds very heavy handed, but that is the system. The alternative is you wait and see if the nursery manages to recruit someone. How long is a piece of string?? And it may well be the same problems in another placement.

 

Is this a specialist nursery?

[Karen A]

I would phone IPSEA and get their advice.

 

IMO it depends on the wording of the Statement. You have 15 hours of support quantified but for what and from whom? Statements need to quantify and specify in terms of hours of provision "and staffing arrangements". Does your son's Statement say he will be supported by a suitably qualified LSA/TA for those 15 hours, or will he have 1:1 for xxx hours, or be in groups of no more than xx other children etc??

 

So firstly I would sit down with the nursery and go through the Statement with a fine tooth comb and ask them how they will fulfill each aspect of it in terms of using the hours of support, and what staffing needs to provide it. (Does the Statement contain quantifield hours of input from OT, or SALT or EP or any other professional??). You need to ensure that that happens as well.

 

If so the simple answer is that you write a letter of non-compliance to your LEA pointing out that your son's Statement says he will receive support for 15 hours from a xxxxxx, and the nursery inform you they have no-one in place for the start date of xxxxx. IPSEA have a template letter you can download and send to the LEA.

 

This gives the LEA 7 days in which to respond. If it is not resolved by then you instruct a specialist solicitor to apply for Judicial Review. You would have to pay the solicitor £300 to begin with, but then the solicitor would be working for your son and not for you, and so you would not need to pay anything else. When a solicitor threatens Judicial Review it usually gets LEAs moving into action. The LEA are responsible for ensuring that the Statement is being fulfilled. I'm sure this situation is not unusual to them.

 

I know this sounds very heavy handed, but that is the system. The alternative is you wait and see if the nursery manages to recruit someone. How long is a piece of string?? And it may well be the same problems in another placement.

 

Is this a specialist nursery?

 

 

Hi.

I thought I would just say.

The information you have given although correct for children in the foundation stage at school does not I think apply to all children in nursery.I remember checking for a previous Forum member.

I will try and find my original information in the COP and post it .

 

In any case in my opinion from experience of nursery provision being too heavy handed could be counter productive.

What is most important is finding someone who is suitable with appropriate experience.

If the nursery are put under undue pressure they may well employ the first person they can find who will then last a few weeks only to need replacing.

I have covered a TA role in a nursery 10 hours per week and it was hardly worth doing for the amount payed.

What is more there is no obligation for the nursery to keep a child on.So if parents are to vocal then the nursery may just decide there is no longer a place available.

They could easily say ''We are sorry we cannot provide all of those things ''.

This could be very counterproductive when as Mike says his son is happy and has made progress.

What is more the situation is to do with the availability of appropriate staff which is a national problem in nursery provision so it is unlikely that another local pre-school would be any better.

In the time taken to fight for a placement the child would probably be school age.

What is more a nursery move is likely to be traumatic so it would be worth weighing up the pros and cons.

A good supportive small nursery or pre-school with understanding staff but no LSA may be more suitable than a large nursery with an LSA.

It is a very different situation to school.

Pre-school may even be a play group or private nursery .

They may not have a SENCO or have ever seen a Statement.

Nursey provision may only be for 15 hours per week.There is no obligation for three year olds to be full time.So even if 15 hours was taken up with SALT,OT etc etc there would be little time left for play or Social Interaction with peers.

Also it may be better for SALT etc to take place outside of the 15 hours rather than insisting it is done at school.

 

Karen.

Edited September 4, 2010 by Karen A

[Karen A]

Statements for children under compulsory school age and over two

4:44 Where children aged between two and five have such severe and complex needs that

statutory procedures are essential in order to maximise their opportunities, the statement

will follow the same format as for any other children. The contributions of non-educational

service providers are likely to be of key importance.

4:45 LEAs should note that parents of children under five and over two may express a

preference for a maintained school to be named in their childs statement. The LEA must

name the school the parents name so long as it meets the criteria set out in Schedule 27

of the Education Act 1996. (See 8:58). A key issue is likely to be whether a school is

suitable for the childs age. The parents may also make representations in favour of an

independent, private or voluntary early education setting for their child. If the LEA

considers such provision appropriate, it is entitled to specify this in the statement and if

it does, must fund the provision. There is, however, no point in doing this for settings

outside the maintained sector unless the setting agrees as the LEA cannot require an

40

Chapter 4: Identification, Assessment and Provision in Early Education Settings

independent or voluntary setting to admit a child. The LEA should ensure that parents

have full information on the range of provision available within the authority and may wish

to offer parents the opportunity to visit such provision and discuss any aspect of the

provision with the Named LEA Officer (see Glossary).

 

Hi Mike

Taken from the COP.

I think it is worth checking the detail depending on the age of your child and the specific provision.

IPSEA,ACE,NAS [education helpline] can all provide individual telephone advice which is free and I think it is worth checking details with them as it is a Specialist Area.

Parent Partnership may also be able to provide local advice however some are more helpful than others.

Karen.

Edited September 4, 2010 by Karen A

[Sally44]

There are specialist nurseries though, and it maybe that if a child needs such support and that cannot be provided at their current nursery, that by following the procedures in place that would make the LEA become involved to find a suitably qualified support for the child at their current nursery, or if the nursery admitted they could not fulfill the provison, the child would need a place at a specialist nursery.

This is only my opinion, but when a child is already identified at such a young age that they need support, then getting that support early on means a better prognosis. Struggling, unsupported in a mainstream nursery may cause more difficulties for the child.

I don't know about nurseries, but do LEAs also have ones that have more experienced and qualified staff for diagnosis such as ASDs?

[Sally44]

The Enhanced Resource primary schools within our LEA also have nurseries attached to them, and the children from those nurseries feed into the ER primary school. Maybe your LEA has something similar and if so that would be the type of nursery you would want. They would be able to support your child and would also identify prior to starting infant school whether a mainstream enhanced resource school was suitable or not.