Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision Hirst Wood Nursery School

Full details of the proposal can be found on the Council's website.

The Notice sets out the procedure for making comments in support of and objections against the proposal.

The Notice relating to the school will also be posted at all the nursery school entrances, on notice boards and in any other conspicuous place at the school where it is likely to be seen by parents and others who may have an interest. The Notice will remain on display from Thursday 9^th June 2022 to 8^th July 2022 inclusive.   

The proposal is:

To establish a 10 place Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision (EYESP) at Hirst Wood Nursery School. Each place will equate to 0.6 of a place (15 hours).

Currently the Local Authority maintains five Nursery Schools across the District which deliver integrated Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision for children primarily aged 2 - 5 years, but with capacity for some children aged 5+ where appropriate with a range of special educational needs and disabilities.

These specialist places would be delivered alongside mainstream Nursery School places. 

The children accessing these provisions would have an Education, Health and Care Plan or be undergoing assessment for an Education, Health and Care Plan. The admission of children to the EYESP will be managed by the special educational needs assessment process. 

The EYESP’s are led by the Local Authority Nursery Schools who receive additional funding from the local authority specifically for the purpose of the provision.

Why are we making changes?

The Local Authority has a statutory duty to constantly review the specialist provision available for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), whilst also ensuring that there are sufficient specialist places available to meet the needs of the growing SEND population.

Bradford District has experienced a significant increase in demand for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision over the last 10 years. It is projected that demand will continue to grow across all sectors.

The Strategic Plan 2021 - Sufficiency of Specialist Places for Children and Young People in Bradford highlights the growing demand.

The total number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for 0-25 year olds across the Bradford District was recorded as 4,842 on 1^st October 2021. This has increased from 3,673 recorded at January 2019 and 4,547 recorded in October 2020. As of 26^th April 2022 the number of children and young people in Bradford with an Education, Health and Care Plan was 5,052.  Of these 5,052 children and young people, 142 are of nursery school age.  There are also a further 133 nursery school aged children accessing SEN Support.

The number of children and young people with an EHCP within the Bradford district continues to rise year on year, above both regional and national averages.  The high levels of occupancy of the current specialist provisions demonstrates that there is a need to develop more specialist provisions across the district in order to meet current and future demand. 

The development of further specialist provisions will ultimately reduce the reliance on placing children and young people with SEND, within more expensive specialist provisions outside of our Local Authority.

The development of an Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision at Hirst Wood Nursery School will go towards easing some of the key pressure points.

We are now seeking the views of all stakeholders and interested parties on the development of further additional specialist places to be delivered within the Bradford District.

Consultation documents

If you would like further information about the proposal, please refer to the following documents:

• The Strategic Plan 2021- Sufficiency of Specialist Places for Children and Young People in Bradford
• Statutory proposal for prescribed alteration document
• Consultation document
• Map showing Shipley Schools and Resourced Provisions 
• Full list of Consultees
• Consultation Questionnaire
• Equality Impact assessment
• SEN Improvement Test
• SEN Evidence of Need

All of the above documents can be found online by visiting the following websites:

https://localoffer.bradford.gov.uk/Content.aspx?mid=589 - Bradford SEND Local Offer

www.bradford.gov.uk/consultations               https://bso.bradford.gov.uk

Objections and comments:

Any person or organisation may submit written objections or supporting comments on the proposals by sending them to the Planning and Sufficiency Service by 8^th July 2022 to the following address:

Planning and Sufficiency Lead SEND, Children’s Services, 7th Floor, Margaret McMillan Tower, Bradford, BD1 1NN

Or by e-mail to SENDPlacesConsultation@bradford.gov.uk

Or follow the link to the questionnaire: https://online1.snapsurveys.com/l6t1k3

Or access a consultation meeting: these will be held virtually via TEAMS on the following dates:

Tuesday 14^th June:       10.30-11.30 am

Thursday 23^rd June:      2.00-3.00 pm

Wednesday 29^th June:  5:30pm-6:30pm

Should you wish to attend one of these meetings please send an e-mail to  SENDPlacesConsultation@bradford.gov.uk to request the link for your preferred date.