Parent's Heartbreak Over Son's School Placement Crisis

Just weeks before term, a West Berkshire mum has been told her special needs son can't go to the school named in his EHCP and doesn't know where he will start in September.

Four-year-old Leighton was named for Yattendon Primary last December but, just before the holidays, the school said it could no longer meet his needs.

"I don't even know what uniform to buy him," explained his mother Emma Knight from her Upper Basildon home.

"We went through all the hoops and jumps getting specialists all briefed up, and to find we can't send him to the same school as his six-year-old sister is very upsetting.

"He is non-verbal, uses alternative forms of communication, requires close supervision, is identified as a flight risk and requires support with toileting. Yattendon was nevertheless named in his EHCP.

"If the school knew about Leighton's needs and believed it could not safely meet them, why was Yattendon named as his placement? If the school believed it could meet his needs when the placement was agreed, I want to understand what subsequently changed."

"More generally, school placements named in an EHCP are determined as part of the statutory assessment process, set out in the SEND Code of Practice," said a spokesperson, "We are aware of the circumstances in this case and remain actively involved with both the family and the school in considering the child's educational provision and support."

Emma says she's been given reasons she finds unconvincing, such as a fence being "too low" and a suggestion staff cannot hold Leighton's hand or hug him.

"Presumably if the fence is too low, then it is a risk for other children too," she said. "I have been told that staff cannot hold Leighton's hand and that Leighton cannot hug members of staff.

"This is particularly significant because Leighton is non-verbal and leading a familiar adult by the hand is one of his established ways of communicating what he wants or needs. I am not asking for inappropriate physical contact. As a parent, I am becoming increasingly concerned that Leighton's disability is being viewed primarily as a collection of problems and barriers rather than as a set of needs which should be understood and supported."

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter