Parent felt 'blamed' in fight for son's education

A parent has said she felt "blamed" while trying to secure suitable education for her son with special educational needs (SEN).

Sam Farr told Warwickshire County Council that her family faced "many failings within the education system” while attempting to get the right help for her 12-year-old son.

She said her son had attended mainstream school, where he spent seven years “sat outside the classroom in one-to-ones”.

He was due an assessment from a higher needs panel which "didn’t happen for two years," she added, before it was decided that a specialist place should be sought.

Ms Farr, who was speaking at a young people overview and scrutiny committee, said her son’s education, health and care plan (ECHP) had also been questioned “on numerous occasions."

Her son had received no secondary education placement this year, she said.

Seventeen schools had received information that he “was in nappies and could only manage two hours of a school day," but this "wasn't true," she said.

Ms Farr said her son, who has had multiple surgeries due to a genetic condition, also had "fantastic" progress reports which were not factored into his ECHP.

After several providers indicated they could not cater for her son's needs, she described how she contacted schools herself and had to "fight" for his entitled tutoring hours.

“An EHCP does not define a child, yet the process we have followed would have you believe that it does. It is extremely flawed in its approach,” she told the committee.

“The parents I speak to, we all feel we are blamed. Parental blame is strong but systemic failure is the real cause here. We want to work with you, we don’t want to work against you.”

At the meeting, councillor Marian Humphreys said it was a "very complex case" and promised a response on behalf of the local authority.

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