The demand for funding for children with additional education needs has never been higher on the island.

According to a recent survey by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC), only 1.6% of respondents felt provision for additional educational needs (AEN) - often better known as special educational needs (SEN) -within schools is very effective.

An overwhelming 60% felt it was not particularly effective.

The AEN Stakeholder Survey, which was open between September and December last year, received 504 responses, with just over half from parents and/or guardians.

When asked what prevents interventions from being effective, typical answers included: lack of funding and resources across the DESC and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), insufficiently trained staff, and lack of flexibility or capacity within schools.

However, the provision of help at the pre-school level was only mentioned once in the summary of responses, something which epitomises the lack of understanding of AEN demand at the nursery level.

Nursery owners have raised concerns they have been left behind, and have to fund specialised support for AEN children from their own pockets - largely by incurring a loss.

The typical ratio for adults to children in the nursery setting is 1:8, however often nurseries are required to provide one-on-one support for AEN children.

This means that often nurseries have to pay a member of staff wages of upwards of £80 per day to care for one child rather than eight - while only charging the child’s parent/guardian around £30 for the day’s care.

Workers in the sector have stressed that while they do not want to turn AEN children away, more support from central government is needed to ensure they can keep up with the level of demand which appears to be on the rise.

Gary Peirce, the owner of Hopes and Dreams, which operates three nurseries and two pre-schools on the island echoed these concerns, stating: ’It is something that the nurseries are absolutely struggling with, because we haven’t got the additional resources to provide the care that’s [often] needed.

He added: ’All our resources are getting dragged into this [often] necessary high ratio care and [there are] cost implications, and there are actually practical implications with [how it] disrupts our service and ability to support the rest of the children that attend.’

Mr Peirce is part of an inter-departmental Childcare Strategy Working Group which is currently working on the development of a childcare strategy for the government.

A spokesperson for the DESC said: ’Work on developing the code is progressing well, with the department’s new policy hub providing additional support to officers and professionals drafting the content.

’A project review is scheduled at the end of the summer term - this will enable the department to take stock of progress to date and plan next steps.

They added: ’Once the draft is completed, it will be shared with our key stakeholders. The department will consider any potential financial implications that the code may bring. Once this work has been undertaken, the final code will then be published.’