Special needs schools ‘We should not have to fight for basic rights’
AWOMAN has described the battle she faced getting her daughter into a special school – as 190 families with children with special educational needs or disabilities will be left without a place at such as school this year.
Across Bristol, there are 13 children who have no school place at all. Another 177 have been allocated places in mainstream schools – with special educational measures in place – despite their care plans stating they require special schools in order to have their needs met.
The children, who number the equivalent of a secondary school’s entire year intake, have special educational needs, but the shortfall in places means they will either be staying in mainstream schools, at home or remain in pre-schools.
Tess Christy said it had felt like she had to ‘move mountains,’ has taken on a huge financial burden and needed to use all her “powers of diplomacy and advocacy” just to help her child attend a school where her needs are understood.
It’s a 40-mile round trip to her daughter’s school, which takes around two hours, but Tess says she feels like one of the lucky ones because so many parents are without a place at all.
Tess now wants the whole Bristol community to support families of children with special educational needs or disability (SEND), to turn up at their protests and understand their battle.
“I have moved mountains for this,” said Tess. “I’ve had to give up work and learn about SEND law all while home educating and caring for two children with SEND.
“But I know I’m privileged, I have a background in education and English is my first language so I have the skills to navigate this process. What if I had dyslexia or English was not my first language? It would be a completely intimidating prospect.
“Even though it’s amazing to see my child enjoying her independence at last, the truth is that the diplomacy and advocacy never ends, you are always mediator and its hugely stressful. It’s not a simple case of now they are in a suitable school so you can get on with your life or even go back to work.
“You and the school are then in this process of helping a child adjust to often years of being out of school, liaising with them to make sure their needs are understood so they can actually sustain attending, moreover you live with the internal stress and tension of trying to remain on good terms with the school and being your child’s advocate which is quite a hard balance to strike. You are also aware that a school has the right to pull out and end the placement if they decide they can no longer meet needs. “It’s relentless and exhausting.” Tess has urged those who are quick to say that they admire families like hers to transform their admiration into outrage.
“There are 190 children who right now should be accessing their legal right to a specialist school so they can pursue their education; they are either at home or struggling in unsuitable mainstream schools due to inadequate planning from Bristol City Council,” said Tess.
“This is a council which swung into action a few years ago to create extra classrooms and school places across the city when there was a bulge year of four and five-yearolds about to enter the school system. Can you imagine the outrage if 190 families had four-year-olds without a school place? Or if they had to wait years to start school?
“It’s obvious our children’s basic rights have not been a priority for this administration.
“Even with austerity, the buses are running, the bins are collected, huge sums of money are invested in Bristol Energy and yet vulnerable children with massive potential are left to languish in unsuitable educational provision or with no provision at all.
“If you are reading this and you think families like mine are amazing or inspiring for fighting for our children’s rights and eventually succeeding in a system that is stacked against us, I would like to ask if you could transform that admiration into outrage because we shouldn’t have to fight for basic rights. SEND families are mighty, but we are also tired, exhausted and spread out in isolated pockets.
“We don’t have the people power in our own neighbourhoods because we are scattered.
“When there is a rally in Bristol against school cuts, the city centre is swarming with thousands of families and unions and teachers and children all coming together.
“When SEND families have a protest against not even having an education at all there are a handful of us. We desperately need teachers, friends, professionals, SENCOs, GPs, paediatricians and colleagues to pay attention and to understand how much discrimination families of children with special educational
Tess Christy describes the battle it has taken to get her child into a special school needs are up against and to join us in the pursuit of our children’s rights.”
A report from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission last December said children with SEND in Bristol had been failed for years.
In 2018, the council was forced to restore £5million to its SEND budget after it lost a High Court case against parents who challenged the administration’s decision to cut the funding.
Councillor Anna Keen, Bristol City Council’s cabinet lead for education and skills, said proposed improvements would provide high quality learning environments for vulnerable children and young adults.
She said: “Young people and adults with SEND and their families are a priority for us. The proposals outlined would enable us to increase our offer of pupil places for children and young adults with SEND and at the same time, address the suitability and condition of the current buildings used for educating SEND pupils.
She added: “It’s really important to us that improvements in SEND in Bristol are co-produced with parents, carers, families, communities, and our partners in education and health, so all the proposals outlined are subject to a full consultation process set to take place this autumn.”
❝ It’s obvious our children’s basic rights have not been a priority for the administration