Parents say SEND system is failing their children

Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have called for more specialist school places and better support, saying the current system is failing their children.

Families gathered outside Leicestershire County Council's offices to share experiences of children being out of school for months, struggling to access support and waiting for specialist placements.

Protest organiser Sharan Rodrigues, 42, said she took to social media after realising her family's experience "wasn't an isolated case".

The county council said it understood the concerns and acknowledged that specialist places were "not always immediately available".

Rodrigues said her eight-year-old son has autism and ADHD and experiences emotionally-based school avoidance.

She said she realised in April he was no longer coping in a mainstream setting.

"We started him off on a reduced timetable, but after the holidays I couldn't get him back in at all," she said.

Rodrigues said a specialist school confirmed it could meet her son's needs, while several mainstream schools said they could not.

She said repeated requests for specialist placements were refused.

Her son now has a placement, but she described it as "bittersweet".

"It's a very small victory in a much bigger picture," she said.

Martina O'Neil, 37, said her non-verbal seven-year-old son had been out of school since May and was receiving between six and eight hours of tuition at home while she appealed for a place at a special school.

She said it was the second time he had been out of full-time education and that he had missed a total of 18 months.

"It's not right, it's not enough," she said. "He's not receiving anywhere near the amount of education he would get at a mainstream school. We need a full-time education."

She said she expected to wait more than a year for a specialist school place.

O'Neil said the situation had affected both her son's wellbeing and her own mental health.

"He's regressing. It feels like he's starting to slowly forget how to interact with people and children," she said.

"I can't tell how much he's struggling mentally because he can't tell me, and to see that and not truly know how he's feeling breaks my heart."

Parents said children should not be left without education while waiting for support, a situation several families at the demonstration said they were facing.

Donna Bowler, 46, has three autistic children, two of whom, aged eight and 10, are currently not at school.

She said one of her sons had been out of school for almost three years and both children needed specialist school places and additional support.

"I just need help. My kids need education and they've got no education," she said.

Sara-Marie Wright, 20, spoke about her experiences of struggling in education as a child and not receiving the support she needed.

"I was one of those students who wouldn't want to go to school at all," she said.

"It's a very scary place being 10 or 11 years old and feeling like nobody understands you."

The concerns raised by parents were supported by Leicester city councillor Zuffar Haq, who attended the protest.

The Liberal Democrat councillor and healthcare campaigner said more than 500 children in Leicestershire who needed specialist education were without places.

He said children being left without a suitable education was "unacceptable" and that there had been no "serious plan" to increase specialist school places.

Rodrigues said she hoped the protest would encourage more families to speak out.

"Education is an entitlement for all these children," she said.

Leicestershire County Council said government funding for places had not kept pace with rising demand and it had created more than 600 additional specialist places over the past five years but demand continued to exceed capacity.

A spokesperson said: "We recognise how difficult this is for children and families and are continuing to increase capacity.

"This includes an accelerated programme of new specialist bases across the county and a new £30m, 252-place special school in Harborough, planned to open in September 2028."

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