Starting school with your NICU child. With SENCO, Carolyn and safeguarding lead, Abbie | S3E30
It can be a very difficult time when your NICU child is getting ready for their first day of school. From wondering if you need to let the school know about their neonatal stay, to keeping an eye out for any developmental issues, to all the other things parents have to handle anyway like getting them kitted out in their new uniform, there’s just so much you worry about.
We want to try to take away some of those difficulties for you, so we’ve brought on two guests in today’s episode, in honour of it now being September! Joining us today is Abbie, who is a qualified family worker and safeguarding lead. She's also a NICU mum to twin girls born at 27+5, who are now two and a half, and is now a neonatal advocate and storyteller since her NICU experience. Also joining us is Carolyn, who is deputy head at her school, and SENCO. Carolyn has been teaching for 17 years and has been a SENCO for 14 of them.
Abbie and Carolyn together have so much knowledge about educational support for your NICU children, and this podcast is sure to be valuable to anyone with kids at school or approaching school age. We’d love to get Abbie and Carolyn back on for a follow-up episode at some point, so please do send in any questions you might have for them via email at hello@miraclemoon.co.uk, Instagram, Facebook or in our new community, The NICU Space. All the links are below!
In this episode, we’re chatting about:
- The role of a SENCO in supporting your child’s needs at school
- What an EHCP is and why your child might need one
- Why you shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to your child’s school and discuss their neonatal stay, even if you haven’t noticed any issues to raise
- What do we as parents need to be aware of and looking out for to see if our children might need educational support?
Take what you need!
[00:42] Introducing one of today’s guests, Abbie
[04:47] Introducing our other guest, Carolyn
[06:43] What is a SENCO and what does their role entail?
[10:06] What is an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?
[15:54] Should you tell your child’s school that they had a neonatal stay?
[24:26] What do we need to look out for when it comes to educational support for our children who have been through NICU?
[35:23] Abbie’s one piece of advice for parents who are starting school with their children soon
[37:11] Carolyn’s advice
A huge thank you to Emma at Cover My Bubble for supporting our podcast - you can find out more about all that Cover My Bubble offer at www.covermybubble.co.uk
This Episode’s Links & Further Reading:
Have a look at the Prem Aware information from The Smallest Things charity
Download the free Prism resource, “Preterm Birth Information for Educational Professionals”