'Gut punch' for 19 SEN pupils facing school start delay

Nineteen children with special educational needs (SEN) in County Down face a "gut punch" due to a delay in starting school.

That is according to the independent autism reviewer for Northern Ireland, Ema Cubitt.

In a statement, Ms Cubitt also criticised what she described as Education Minister Paul Givan's "misplaced and out of touch priorities".

The children were due to start Oakwood School in Saintfield - but building work at the school has not yet been finished.

The Education Authority (EA) said that because of the works across the education estate, to increase capacity, some schools were "operating alternative classroom arrangements or an extended induction period to enable pupil attendance".

The EA said this would facilitate the completion of a "bespoke learning environment to meet the specific needs of the children and young people within their school community".

Ms Cubitt said: "It is beyond my comprehension that while so many children with special educational needs are actively being denied their right to education, that Minister Givan is proposing spending a quarter of a million pounds to restrict mobile phone use in schools and is meeting with an umbrella organisation representing paramilitary organisations."

Givan recently met the Loyalist Communities Council, which includes representatives of loyalist paramilitary groups.

The minister is also planning to spend about £250,000 for schools to buy pouches to prevent mobile phones being used.

In a statement, a Department of Education (DE) spokesperson said: "Meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs is a priority for the Education Minister and the Executive".

It added that there has been a "significant increase in the number of children requiring specialist education provision since 2020, which has necessitated the creation of additional capacity across the education system".

"This has involved the establishment of 183 new special education classes, creating 1,450 new places.

"The establishment of new provision on this scale has required a significant programme of capital works to ensure school facilities can meet the needs of the children placed in them.

"There have been unavoidable delays in the opening of on-site provision in some schools whilst building works are being completed," the DoE spokesperson said.

Ms Cubitt was appointed as Northern Ireland's first autism reviewer by the Department of Health (DoH) in August.

Her role is independent of government departments, however, and involves assessing the adequacy of services to autistic people.

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, she detailed being "inundated with emails from distressed families" since starting in her role only four weeks ago.

She said that the crisis is "incredibly plain to see".

"The frustrating thing for me, for the teachers and the school community is that we have been promised that this would be ready for the end of August.

"The reality is that these children probably won’t start until 4 November.

"The Education Authority is making no provision for them in the meantime.

She added that "these children are not in school, they're not getting that right to education that they are entitled to" and "the impact on these children is phenomenal".

Ms Cubitt said that, as a result of the amounting emails from distressed parents, she had contacted the principal of Oakwood School.

While the main campus of the school is in Belfast, there is a satellite site in the former St Mary's Primary in Saintfield.

But building work was required to create more classrooms and facilities for pupils with SEN due to start school in Saintfield in September.

There has been a significant increase in demand for special school places in recent years.

Pupils with SEN have also been unable to start school elsewhere in Northern Ireland due to delays in building work commissioned by the EA.

The EA is establishing more than 1,450 new and additional places across both special schools and specialist provisions in mainstream schools.

However, Ms Cubtt said that when teachers from the school became aware the building was not going to be ready, they had started home visits to the pupils affected.

The 19 children affected are all due to enter pre-school or Primary One.

"The vast majority have autism, many will be non-verbal," Ms Cubitt said.

"Getting them into school in a timely manner is really important for these children, because school is so very new."

She urged the education and health ministers "not to look away from the ongoing crisis facing autistic children and young people in Northern Ireland".

Asked by BBC News NI why she was particularly critical of what she called the education minister's "misplaced and out of touch priorities", Ms Cubitt said parents of children unable to start school felt "ignored".

"They ring the EA and there's no answer on the phone, yet online there's lots of photo-ops in schools where children are attending.

"There's been several posts about attendance matters.

"I would say if that is true, why is the placement of children with SEN not the primary priority?"

A spokeswoman for the EA said it remains "firmly committed to meeting the individual needs children and young people with special educational needs".

“There have been significant efforts made by all colleagues across the education sector to provide additional appropriate places, reflective of pupils’ needs," they continued.

The EA said it will continue to work with schools and families to minimise any impact for children and young people.

In a statement, the DoH said that the health minister "is aware of the significant pressures on services and has recently met with both the Children's Law Centre and the family of a child with complex needs to discuss ongoing challenges".

"The minister recognises the current situation is unsustainable and is determined to see urgent improvements in this area," it added.