Children under 5 years old

We offer services to all families with children under 5 years old, including expecting mothers, and specialist services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

For general help or support contact your local Children's Centre & Family Hub.

If your child isn't attending nursery or pre-school and you have concerns about your child's development, talk to your health visitor or doctor.

If your child is going to a nursery or pre-school, speak to their key worker. Alternatively, contact the nursery's Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

If you are worried about your child’s hearing, contact your doctor. They can make a referral to see a hearing specialist called an audiologist. Find out more about hearing services for children.

Here you will find a list of organisations offering information and support. Some of them accept direct inquiries from parents and carers, others are by professional referral only.

Support for children with additional needs or SEND in Camden nurseries

All early education providers must have regard to the SEN Code of Practice (2014) and the Equalities Act (2010).  They must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND or disabilities which identifies a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEND. Providers should implement the graduated response to emerging needs and adopt an, assess, plan, do, review model of support. They should involve parents/carers from the earliest stage. Find out more about what happens when a child needs SEND support.

The majority of children with additional needs or SEND are successfully included in early years settings. This is without the need for additional staffing or specialist resources.

We expect schools or childcare facilities to provide educational activities to meet the needs of children starting to show signs of special educational needs.

As part of this approach, we also expect educational settings to seek guidance and advice from various support services, such as:

Camden Local Inclusion Fund (CLIF)

Some children need additional support to help them make progress and access the early years curriculum. Settings can apply to CLIF which can help to fund additional staff so that specific programmes of support can be put in place for individual children. All early years settings in Camden delivering the free entitlements for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds within Camden can apply for CLIF. This includes maintained school nurseries. Applications to the fund can be made at any time.  The panel meets up to ten times a year. 

Exceptional Needs Grant and Education and Health Care (EHC) plans 

The SENDCO will discuss the need for applying for an Exceptional Needs Grant or an EHC plan if:

  • early years practitioners or teachers believe your child needs support than is ordinarily available when they go to school
  • your child's needs are complex and may require specialist support in the future

Before starting an assessment

Before starting an assessment, we will ask the nursery to tell us how they have supported your child. The nursery will need to tell us:

  • what they have done to meet your child's needs so far
  • what difference this support has made

This is unless your child's needs have come about suddenly, for example, because of an accident or illness.

There are organisations which can help If you'd like to talk to someone who has first-hand experience of a child with SEND:

Children with medical conditions or disabilities

Many children with life-long medical conditions and disabilities are identified by health services. These services are required by law to let the local authority know to ensure they have all the support that they need. This usually happens before children start school.

We hold a meeting once a month to ensure identified children are discussed which is attended by the following support services:

If your child is known to health services, their needs are only discussed at this meeting with your consent. This is to make sure that they can get access to educational and extra support if needed.

Moving from nursery to Reception year at school

Once you find out which school your child will go to for Reception, the nursery your child attends will set up a meeting with the school. This meeting helps the school understand your child's needs and prepare for their arrival.

You will be invited to this meeting so that you can share your perspective about your child's needs.  

Nursery settings and schools have different funding arrangements. Schools already have funding for SEND within their budgets, whilst nurseries do not. This means that the majority of children with SEND do not need individual funding when they start school. Children with exceptional levels of need may start school with funding already agreed upon through an Exceptional Needs Grant or EHC plan.