Assessment Centre

The Grove 

The Grove comprises two special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provisions. Firstly, The Assessment Centre, which caters for pre-school children who have a wide range of SEND. The primary aim of the Pre-School Assessment Centre is the early identification, assessment and placement of children with SEND. 

Secondly, the Specialist Resource Provision (SRP), which is for children who have a diagnosis of Autism (ASD). The SRP has 16 spaces in a separate suite of specially adapted rooms within the mainstream school building. Teaching and quiet/sensory areas are well resourced to meet the needs of a range of neurodiverse learners.

It covers an age range from 4 – 11 years. The staffing ratio follows the recommendations of the National Autistic Society (NAS) of 1 teacher/specialist Speech and Language Therapist and 2 assistants to 6 children. There is a dedicated SRP Manager and Administrator.

The organisation of a child’s day is supported by the use of personalised visual prompts and timetables, Now/Next boards, and reinforced with Signalong.  A personalised learning approach is followed with a strong emphasis on a Life Skills based curriculum.

Mission Statement

In The Grove we follow Ruislip Gardens 4 Lifelong Values of Resilience, Responsibility, Respect and Reflection. Children, staff, parents, governors and visitors work hard to uphold these shared values. As learners we welcome challenges as an opportunity to grow and keep trying until we have reached our goal. We strive to take an active role in becoming independent learners and understand that we are all responsible for our choices, actions and words. We treat others as we would like to be treated and embrace everyone’s differences. We celebrate our achievements and see mistakes as an opportunity to learn.

Assessment Centre - Introduction

Our Assessment Centre is for children aged 2 -4, who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) with the purpose of assessing children in order to apply for an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA). The aim of the Assessment Centre is to assess the level of support each individual child needs in order to thrive in an educational setting and provide tailored care and personalised learning experiences that will support and nurture each child. This will help to determine the level of support needed when starting full-time education. After the children have received their Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) outlining their special educational needs and the support that should be available to them, then support can be given to find an educational setting in the future that is suitable for their needs.

Description of Assessment Centre 

Our Assessment Centre will be a 32 part time place setting across two classrooms offering either morning or afternoon sessions term time only. The timing of these sessions will be 8:30- 11:30 am for the morning session and Midday to 3 pm  for the afternoon session. Children attending the Assessment Centre will be accessing 15 hour nursery funding by attending 5 days a week for 3 hours per day.  Each classroom will have a class of up to 8 children per session, who will be supported by a high ratio of qualified staff. 

The Purpose of the Assessment Centre 

The aims of the Assessment Centre will be to offer an inclusive learning environment alongside creating social opportunities and providing specialist teaching and interventions to enable children to make progress to their individual targets and areas of development. Children attending the Assessment Centre will receive tailored planning and special educational support from appropriately qualified staff.  

Admission Criteria

To access a place at our Assessment Centre the following criteria must be met:

• Children must be between 2 and 4 years old and be presenting severe and long-term needs and their early learning and play skills must be significantly delayed. 
• Children are considered from the age of 2, however priority is given to children closer to compulsory school age.
• Admission to the centre must start at least two terms before starting reception school year(unless there are exceptional circumstances).

Referral Process 

Referrals to the Assessment Centre will only be made by SEND professionals, such as SEND Advisory Service, Portage, Specialist SEND Health Visitors. Children may be recommended by a SEND professional who is already supporting the child and their family or by the 0-5 Early Health Panel, following a notification submitted by a health professional. The referrals will then be presented to a multi-disciplinary panel who will review the presenting evidence and decide if the child meets the admission criteria outlined above. Please note that we will not be accepting referrals from other settings or parents/carers.

Next Steps 

If a child is meeting the criteria for the Assessment Centre and there is a need to determine which provision will be suitable for the child then members of the staff from the Assessment Centre will undertake an observation of the child in their current setting or their family home. This will then be discussed at the next  Early Health panel meeting to confirm if the child is suitable for the Assessment Centre. The Early Health Panel will then contact parents/carers and if applicable the child’s current setting to inform them of the outcome. 

If a child is suitable for the Assessment Centre and there are no spaces available, then the child will be placed on a waiting list.