More specialist nurseries needed for SEN children

Staff at Wishing Well Nursery in Worcester take in all children as long as they can meet their needs

Worcester needs more specialist nurseries for children with special educational needs (SEN), according to nursery staff.

Staff at Wishing Well Nursery in Rainbow Hill say the number of children with SEN is increasing every year.

But they say giving those children the education they deserve is getting harder due to a lack of both specialist places and support for the nurseries that do take on SEN children.

Owner Jennifer Jenkins said: "We do our best for the children, but we are nursery nurses – we are not trained in SEN and we are learning on a daily basis."

"As a city centre nursery we have certainly seen the impact, especially since the closure of the nursery at Fort Royal."

Ms Jenkins and her staff said they do not discriminate and taken in all children, as long as they feel they can meet their needs.

She also said the current staffing crisis in nurseries is only adding pressure to the situation.

"People can only take so much of doing it for not much more than minimum wage," she admitted.

Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet is set to approve plans for a new special school in Malvern next week.

But Wishing Well staff said that would still leave the problem of having a shortage of places for two to four-year-olds.

Last week, governors at Fort Royal said the lack of SEN places could have “dire consequences” for vulnerable children.

Councillor Tracey Onslow, the county council’s cabinet member for education, said the council was working with schools to increase pupil numbers and lobbying the government for more funding.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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