Staying At Nursery .....

[Guest]

Hi everyone, I havent been on in a while...so busy...so tired. ..but here I am with a question....

we have a child with disabilities that will struggle with school life when he is ready to go next September, the parents will have all of his entry paperwork soon and I wanted to help them with their choices really....they are hoping to keep him at nursery for another year if possible........he will be 5 in the preceding May after he starts school and so legally we should be ok....but I have never actually been through this process and know that I can start looking into it with the local authority I just wondered if anyone has had this type of scenario before and could offer any advice....words of wisdom....experience.....etc etc.....

 

thank you....

 

 

p.s I am sooooo exhausted already - only been back for a week......new starters, new parents...mountains of paperwork.....etc..... :wacko:

[Upsy Daisy]

I looked into this a bit when my younger daughter started school and I decided to send her only part-time for the first two terms. The school were not best pleased but I stood my ground.

 

The only issue for these parents could be that once he does start he'll probably have to join his cohort and have missed the play based environment of the reception classroom. That put me off keeping her off full-time or for longer.

[louby loo]

It happened with us a good few years ago, I can't really remember any real problems other than the school not being happy and saying there may not be a space for her when they did want her to did want to start.

[mundia]

The new admissions arrangements from 2011 state that parents have the right to choose when to send their child to reception, and schools are required to keep the place open for when the child starts, so from that point of view there will not be a problem.

 

Each LA will differ, so its worth contacting your area Senco, who are probably already involved anyway, and seeing how they can support this transition. Parents need to consider which school will best meet their child's needs before completing their forum, which will be in the next couple of months I think. As Upsy Daisy said, one of the issues can be the child joining year one if they miss the whole of reception year in school, which can make transition more difficult.

 

Its good that you are thinking about this now, as it can take such a long time especially if there is statementing involved or applications for funding of additional support.

[Cait]

We have twice had parents say this at this time of year, and twice gone through the argy bargy associated with convincing the school, LA and SN teams that this was in the best interests of the children concerned. We've helped write reports to specialists and had specialist team meetings etc. Both times the parents have changed their minds during the summer term and the child has gone to school "with all their friends"

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies.... in some respects it shouldnt make a huge difference to the child with regard to the play environment of reception and the cohort as it is a mixed year one and reception class and so he will be with some of his peer group whatever and the environment remains the same

 

.....spending an extra year with us just might help him gain some more independence and development to deal with the whole transition to school....he has so many disabilities that I am not sure what he will be like in a year's time.....but I want to be as supportive as possible...such unknown territory for the parents...

[Cait]

Oh - it certainly is!

[laura]

In our county we can defer their place for a year, so they will go in to Reception a year later. We had 2 children that have just done this but we did not do the paperwork as they went to a special needs school as well as us and they arranged it. At review meetings the school did moan about how the child would eventually get back into the right school year but we argued that that was in the future and should be dealt with then, not now when delaying Reception for a year would be best.

 

We currently have a child that should have gone to school this september, the plan at the moment is he goes in reception in January but we are hoping that our early years consultant will help us to defer his place for a year too. We have peadiaticians and Ed phyc's (sp?) involved too which will bring weight to the argument.

[Guest]

In our county we can defer their place for a year, so they will go in to Reception a year later. We had 2 children that have just done this but we did not do the paperwork as they went to a special needs school as well as us and they arranged it. At review meetings the school did moan about how the child would eventually get back into the right school year but we argued that that was in the future and should be dealt with then, not now when delaying Reception for a year would be best.

 

We currently have a child that should have gone to school this september, the plan at the moment is he goes in reception in January but we are hoping that our early years consultant will help us to defer his place for a year too. We have peadiaticians and Ed phyc's (sp?) involved too which will bring weight to the argument.

 

I had lots of children do this in my Nursery School. Go for it if it's what is best for the child concerned and parents are happy.

[Guest]

We have a similar situation going on this year,

but the child is splitting the placement......... so some time with us in nursery and some in reception with a clause for her to come to us whenever reception appears inappropriate to her needs.

 

Our SENCO is very supportive with the child's needs uppermost in her mind. For this little girl it MAY be her only year in mainstream school and it will be nice for parents to have this whatever happens next.

[Guest]

Hi Shirel, I know inclusion is great in theory, but for some children the mainstream classroom is not the right place to be and they end up disadvantaged by the philosophy that everyone should be educated together.

 

Have you mentioned to the parents the possibility of looking for a special school nearby?

 

Just a thought.

[Guest]

Yes I think I will suggest that she looks at the local special school as well as it may well be better equipped than us.....we will support whatever....out local one is close and so maybe I could look at it too....