Agenda item

With reference to article 8 of the minute of the Policy and Strategy (Education) Committee meeting of 3 March 2009 and article 20 of the minute of the Resources Management Committee meeting of 16 June 2009, the Committee had before it a report which outlined the approach that had been taken to involve families and staff in the redesign of pre-school and family support services for children with additional support needs as a result of complex factors.

The report advised that as a result of the decision to rationalise Hazlewood and Woodlands Schools and Raeden Nursery and develop a new facility for children and young people with additional support needs arising from complex factors on the current Raeden Centre site, the Policy and Strategy (Education) Committee had agreed that the authority should review pre-school nursery education for children with the most complex needs.  The report outlined the ongoing work to develop a new facility at Raeden and advised that the completed feasibility study had identified the site as being suitable for the proposed facility.  

It was noted that the redesign of the school would also impact on the existing NHS nursery provision at the Raeden Developmental Centre.   NHS Grampian was in the process of redesigning its service provision for children with complex needs.   In order to ensure collaborative working with NHS Grampian in this regard, a joint advisory group had been set up comprising representatives from NHS Grampian, parent representatives and voluntary sector partners.   The Group was asked to develop a proposal for pre-school education for children with additional support needs as a result of complex factors, taking account of various issues including the ongoing redesign of nursery provision provided by NHS Grampian.   The proposal produced by the Group was then discussed with parents and staff and amended to address concerns raised.  

The overall aim of the proposal was to retain the same number of pre-school nursery places for children with additional support needs but to offer parents more choice as to the type and location of service they would prefer.   The new facility at Raeden would provide sixteen part-time pre-school places for children with the most complex needs.   Twenty-four additional part-time pre-school places would be provided in three cluster nurseries.  These would be located in existing local authority early years settings based on the areas with the highest level of need.   Each nursery would be developed either as a specialist nursery or as an integrated pre-school service with the Social Care and Wellbeing Service.   It was also proposed to commission a maximum of twenty places from the voluntary and private sectors to deliver special pre-school provision for those children with additional support needs who had working parents.

It was further noted that a range of family support services would be incorporated into the new service in the main school, cluster nurseries, and in full day care services.   These support services reflected the consultation undertaken with parents, and included:- 

• support at diagnosis
• information and advice including health and more general service information through the Family Information Service
• the development of mutual support networks
• the implementation of community development parenting programmes such as Parents as Early Education Partners
• 0 to 3 years childcare/crèche provision in the school complex and at other nominated sites.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       consider and, if appropriate, approve, the proposal for the new modernised pre-school nursery and family support service;

(b)       request that officers continue to collaborate with NHS Grampian and Aberdeen City Community Health Partnership to ensure that the redesign of health, family and pre-school services are appropriately aligned to meet the needs of this group of children and their families;  and

(c)        instruct officers to consult formally on the closure of Raeden Nursery and the new proposal;  and to report back to Committee in January 2011.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations contained in the report.