RECENTLY Wokingham.Today highlighted the frustrations of two families struggling to find Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) school places for their children.
The story generated comments from other parents in similar situations, on social media, and by email to: news@wokingham.today.
More families highlighted a shortage of school places, inappropriate school places, and a lack of communication from Wokingham Borough Council’s (WBC) Education Department.
One parent said: “My son has been out of school for 14 weeks, and has no place yet for September,” and another: “My daughter has been offered a place in September but the Local Authority won’t agree to specialist education, even though she has been out of school a year and her mainstream school has said they can’t meet her needs.”
Frustration levels are high.
“My child is three years behind, and has been out of education for four months, with no learning of any sort offered,” said one parent.
Another, said: “We have tried 20 schools for my son and every single one has said no. He’s now missed two years, but really wants to be in school.”
Yet another, said: “My little boy, 7, has never attended school, nor received support from school. He has been enrolled but is yet to attend due to ‘red tape.”
Others explain their child has been offered inappropriate placements, including one who said: “Wokingham Borough Council placed my son in a behavioural unit for over a year. I had to fight tooth and nail to get him into an appropriate school.”
And a grandparent, who said: “My granddaughter with special needs was finally offered a place at a private school, but the council now wants to look for a cheaper one, even reaching out to Hampshire. If they had accepted the private one, she would be starting school in September. It’s disgusting.”
One parent we’ll call Parent C, explained her situation: “I have a son with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) who was out of school for nearly two years.
“Recently his residential placement (in the borough) gave him seven days to find a new placement.
“Suddenly one was found – three and a half hours away.”
Parent C says her son, aged 16, has had to leave the borough to take up the placement, in Liverpool.
Councils have a range of responsibilities to support children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND), including making sure that they can access a suitable education.
But the Local Government Association says that a surge in primary school pupils creating pressure on places is now being seen in secondary schools.
Many councils face enormous challenges to make sure there are enough school places available for children and young people in their areas.
A Wokingham Borough Council spokesperson said: “Our SEND team has been working hard to find places for all pupils with EHCPs that are moving between two key stages of education.
“This includes moving from an infant school to a junior school or moving from a primary school to a secondary school.
“So far, they have found places for more than 90% of children that this process applies to and we are committed to finding places for all children before the start of the new school year in September.
“Where suitable places are identified, we consider these quickly and let families know as soon as possible as we recognise that this is an anxious time for all children and families affected.”
Families say that frustration about their children’s situations is made harder by the lack of communication they say they receive from Wokingham Borough Council.
“I’m sick and tired of being ignored. It’s utterly exhausting,” said one: “I’m so very tired of fighting, whilst watching my child deteriorate in front of me.”
Another, said: “Trying to get communication with anyone is impossible, and no one there seems to communicate with each other.”
“I’m currently off work sick due to my son being in two different settings, and dealing with all the appointments and calls. I am physically and mentally burnt out.”
“I was told my daughter’s case officer currently has 680 cases to look after due to chronic staff shortages. The SEND department is broken.”
For some families it takes years to try to resolve children’s schooling issues.
One mother, we’ll call her Parent D, said: “We have been fighting for our son for six years since he got his EHCP .
“It resulted in him having to leave school and go without education for 18 months.
“We took the council to a tribunal and won, but it took a year of no communication and being given a mainstream college place which we knew he wouldn’t cope with.
“Recently we have battled to get him extra online tuition, which was agreed at an EHCP review in January this year, but to date it hasn’t been actioned.
“All my complaints have been upheld by their customer relations officer who apologised and assured me I would hear within five days of July 24 whether my son still has funding for September’s alternative provision.
“I would like clear and honest communication from Wokingham Borough Council.”
Responding to the issue of communication, Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services, said: “Good communication with parents and carers is our top priority.
“Since 2014, there has been a 140% increase in the number of children with Education Health and Care Plans across the country.
“In Wokingham Borough, we experienced an increase of 40% in the need for EHCPs between 2014 and 2020, and the growth rate since then has increased significantly.
“In 2020, we had 1,078 young people with EHCPs, and as of June 2024 we now have more than 2,000.
“We have been working to improve our response times to families despite this significant increase in local needs, which also requires extra case working resources from the local authority’s SEND service and partner services, as well as working with providers to develop educational and therapeutic resources to meet these needs.
“We have invested in our SEND service to allow us to respond to children’s needs in a timely way and have been actively working with our Parent Carers Forum to improve our communication with and support for families.
“We have made some progress on the measures that we have been implementing, but we do recognise that we have more to do and we are committed to working with parents, carers and education providers within the borough to do better.
“We are also working with central government to contribute to national learning to improve the system for children with SEND, that is recognised to be problematic and in need of national reform.”
For information, visit: www.wokingham.gov.uk/schools-and-education
