Support and Advice
Index
Early Years
There are a range of services in Wandsworth for families with children under 5. Support is geared towards identifying any emerging special educational needs early on and providing children and their families with the most appropriate support.
Family Information Service
Many of the services below are on the Family Information Service website.
If you cannot find what you need, or would like further information you can contact them via telephone. Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm.
15 hours early learning for families of 2 year olds in England, receiving some additional forms of support
15 hours of early education for 38 weeks (up to 570 hours per year), that you can use flexibly with one or more providers.
Some families with children aged 2 years old may be eligible for 15 hours of early education for 38 weeks of the year.
Some providers will allow you to ‘stretch’ the hours over up to 52 weeks, using fewer hours per week.
Go to the website to find out of you are eligible.
15 hours Early Education and Childcare Places for 3- and 4-Year-Olds in Wandsworth
15 hours of childcare or early education for 38 weeks (up to 570 hours per year), that you can use flexibly with one or more providers. Some providers will allow you to ‘stretch’ the hours over up to 52 weeks, using fewer hours per week.
30 hours childcare for eligible working families in England available for children aged 9 months to 4 years
Up to 30 hours of funded childcare support over 38 weeks of the year.
Some providers will allow you to ‘stretch’ the hours over 52 weeks, using fewer hours per week. This can be used flexibly with one or more childcare providers.
Nursery provision in Wandsworth
Most primary schools in Wandsworth have a nursery within them. Children can attend from the September after their third birthday, though some also have an intake in January, and some also take two-year-olds. They are generally only open during school hours and school term times, though some may offer extended hours.
There are private nurseries all around Wandsworth. They can offer childcare from a few months old up until children start in reception. Most private nurseries are open all year round and offer hours that support working parents.
Applying for a Wandsworth primary school
Click the link to find a step by step guide to the process of applying for a reception class place in a Wandsworth primary school.
Transition support from nursery to school for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Wandsworth Children’s Centres
Children’s centres provide a welcoming space where you and your child aged 0 – 5 years old can have fun and learn.
The benefits of using a children’s centre are:
- learning to play creatively with your child
- spending quality time together with your child
- improving your parenting skills by attending various programmes and sessions
- accessing training courses to assist you in getting back to work
- making friends with other parents and carers
- getting support with life problems.
Most sessions will be free of charge, but some will require booking and maybe a small fee.
Wandsworth Family Hubs
Family Hubs are a great place to go to get a wide range of services and support for you and your family – all in one place.
Services, including FREE online workshops covering a range of topics, are offered to parents and children aged 0-19 years [25 years for young people with special educational needs and disabilities]
There are 3 Family Hubs across the borough:
Yvonne Carr (Battersea)
Tooting Family Hub
Roehampton Family Hub
Early Years SEND Play and Family (SPF) team
The SEND Play and Family team supports children up to 5 years of age with emerging needs and social communication difficulties, and their families, if not already attending an Early Years setting.
Children can be referred to the team by a professional working with the family, or families can self-refer, using the SITT application form, available on the website.
The SPF team aims to prepare children for group education, supporting children to acquire the social and emotional skills necessary for nursery life.
The SEND Play and Family team offers:
- Termly sessions, run by invitation.
- Family Support
- Transition support into settings
- Referrals to further services and support, if and when needed
In addition to the above offer the SPF team also works very closely with colleagues from the Family Hubs to support the Enhanced Stay Play and Learn sessions, for children with identofiued or emerging needs at the 3 Family Hubs in Battersea, Tooting and Roehampton.
Early Years Inclusion Advisory Service
The Early Years SEND Inclusion Teams are part of the wider SEND Inclusion Service and works towards enabling children aged 3 months to five years to meet their potential.
Portage
Portage offers support to parents/carers whose children have a delay in two or more areas of development; one of which is a cognitive delay of approximately 6 months or a diagnosis which is known to affect development.
Portage works in partnership with parents/carers of children with complex medical and learning needs through fun play sessions, and breaking learning into small steps to help parents/carers support their child’s development in all areas of learning: Cognition, sensory and physical, communication, social and emotional and self-help skills. This is achieved through one-to-one home visits and group play sessions at the SEND & Inclusion Hub.
NHS CAMHS Under 5's Therapy Service
Wandsworth CAMHS Under 5s is a friendly, community-based service that aims to support healthy emotional and social development in children. We can help you think about your child’s emotional regulation and behaviour. We also run parenting groups.
To use this service, referrals are taken from GP, HV, SLT, nurseries and professionals.
For children aged 0 – 5 years old. They must be registered with a GP in Wandsworth or live in the borough.
Speech and Language Therapy Early Help Team (Under 3’s)
This service provides advice and support to parents/carers of very young children who are concerned about any aspect of their child’s communication.
This includes speech sounds, language, attention and listening and play.
This service offers advice about:
- bilingualism;
- dummy use;
- play;
- the best possible development of children’s communication skills;
- preventing minor problems impacting further on young children; and
- signposting parents and carers to specialist services if required.
- The service is based in all 3 of Wandsworth’s Family Hubs.
Wandsworth Autism Advisory Service (WAAS)
All parents with a child with autism/social communication difficulties or those who are on the specialist pathway (undergoing an assessment for autism) can access the following support:
- COFFEE MORNINGS: These are FREE for any parent of a CYP who has a diagnosis of autism (or is on the pathway for assessment). They provide a casual setting with no set agenda for parents to come and ask questions and also share experiences with other parents.
- PARENT WORKSHOPS: These are events which are run by professionals within the WAAS team and will focus on a particular area of need. They will focus on understanding more about autism and offer strategies to support parenting with a space to ask questions at the end.
Parenting Autistic Children Together (P.A.C.T. Course): These are one day courses designed to introduce parents to an overview of what autism is and how it can be supported. We recommend parents then engage with our workshops following completion of this course to gain more specific knowledge.
- WAAS have a number of useful videos on You Tube for teaching communication strategies. You can find them HERE.
Healthy Start Card
With Healthy Start you may be able to get a card topped up with money every week, which you can use for milk, fruit, vegetables, pulses and infant formula milk. You can also get free vitamins.=
If you are pregnant or have children under the age of four and are on benefits, you could qualify. If you’re pregnant and under 18 you could also qualify.
The Health Start website also covers subjects including:
- healthy eating during pregnancy;
- breastfeeding; and
- recipes.
Social Stories for Autism
Social Stories help autistic children understand routines, manage change and feel more confident in everyday situations.
Social Story Templates is a free, easy-to-use platform offering personalised, downloadable Social Stories for parents, carers, teachers and SEND professionals.
Designed with accessibility in mind, it helps reduce anxiety, build understanding and support calmer, happier daily experiences for neurodiverse children.
There are hundreds of social stories, with a variety of images of children, to choose from.
For specific social story requirements, email support@mail.socialstorytemplates.com
