Mother In Plea For Son As SCC Plans 900 More Places For Special Needs Children

Published on: 27 Sep, 2019
Updated on: 30 Sep, 2019

Amy Stevens and her son, Logan. Image – Rebecca Curley

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

Surrey County Council is providing nearly 900 extra school places for children with special needs so they can be nearer their home.

But one mother waiting 10 months for a school for her autistic son says the project should still be about what is right for the child. Amy Stevens’s son Logan is also non-verbal and suffers from anxiety, and she questions how the changes will help families struggling to cope while they await a suitable place

Cabinet councillors voted on Tuesday (September 24) to implement a 14-scheme programme to provide 883 places for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) children in mainstream or specialist schools in the county.

This includes bulge classes, an extra class usually just for one year intake, as well as expansions of specialist schools and a new free school for all ages.

Cllr Julie Iles

Cllr Julie Iles (Con, The Horsleys), cabinet member for all-age learning, said the aim was to reduce travel time and place children with additional needs in schools closer home.

A caseworker had told Mrs Stevens and her husband Jonathan there were no places at schools near their home in Bisley so they found one 26 miles away in Tadworth ready to meet his needs. But the council stopped that, saying it was too far from home.

She has now been told not all mainstream schools near their home had been considered first and she has appealed to the council to reverse their decision, lodging a formal complaint about the handling of their case.

Logan started at their local primary school last year, but has been kept back in Reception because of his needs, and the family is desperate to move him to a school that can support him.

Mrs Stevens, 37, says he needs a lot of attention and that the long wait has already affected his anxiety levels as well as her mental health.

“He needs to be with similar peers and to have a more specialist provision,” she said. “His anxiety has reached such a level. He is so anxious because he cannot speak and the paediatrician said if he doesn’t go into a school that can support him soon he will just get worse.

“We have been waiting 10 months and I don’t understand how this can be acceptable.”

Mrs Stevens said she agrees with what SCC is trying to do by increasing place numbers at mainstream schools, but questioned how long this would take and what families like hers would experience while the expansions and extra classes were being built.

The new strategy for SEND places says the 883 placements will become available between now and 2023.

She said: “I think every school should have a unit but you have to be careful because not every child is going to fit into that.

“Looking at how much Logan has suffered and how much we have seen his anxiety raised we believe he should be in a more specialist school.

“How are they going to train all these teachers to do all these things? It’s all very well saying they are going to put in bulge classes but there are so many kids who are not in the right school for them.”

Mrs Stevens has two other children and her youngest son had open-heart surgery last year when just a few months old.

A Surrey County Council spokesman said: “We are committed to supporting all children and young people, especially the most vulnerable, to have their needs met and lead fulfilling lives.

“But we cannot comment on any individual cases.”

In 2018-19, Surrey has 24 special schools and 49 specialist units in mainstream schools, providing 3,091 places.

In January this year, there were 8,732 young people in the county with an Education Health Care Plan. But 12% of SEND pupils attend non-maintained or independent schools. The national average is 6.3%.

Over the next 10 years, there could be a 34% increase in demand for specialist placements in Surrey, forecasts show.

The cost of a SEND placement in a non-maintained or independent school is £48,000 compared to £22,000 for state specialist schools.

Surrey spent £49m in 2018-19 on non-maintained and independent places.