Biggleswade mum's struggle to find school for son with special educational needs

Gemma Marchant, 41, is struggling to enrol her son Eli, four, at a specialist school for severe additional needs.

And she claims that despite never meeting her son in person, a CBC panel has decided that he should remain in mainstream education, with Eli currently attending a pre-school in Wrestlingworth. Meanwhile, she says that the council also printed inaccurate information in Eli's Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – and to top it all off, breached data protection rules when they posted it to the wrong address.

The council says it works "closely with families" to find "positive solutions", and that it is considering further training for staff following the data breach.

Gemma claimed: "No-one will ever understand the stress and heartache we have been though for our son. It's fight after fight, takes its toll, and there's a lot of anger and upset. But I don't believe it should be a fight, and that's where the problem lies.

"The council needs to build more schools – special needs schools should be on the top of their list. They treat children as numbers, not actual people."

Four-year-old Eli is non-verbal and has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Gemma describes his mental ability as being akin to that of a six to 12-month-old, and has had to give up her job as mainstream preschools can only take him part time.

Explaining why her son needs a specialist setting, Gemma claimed: "Eli has no understanding of the world around him and no danger awareness. There's health and safety aspects; you can say to a four-year-old, 'don't do this', but Eli will just carry on.

"The council keep saying it's not age related, but he's with a bunch of four-year-olds who know how to do things, and he can't even talk.

"A specialist school would have more understanding of how to teach Eli in a way he can learn. At a mainstream school, he will plod along but not actually succeed."

Eli went to three mainstream pre-schools that couldn't meet his needs, before settling at a mainstream pre-school in Wrestlingworth. Gemma describes this as being "fantastic", with staff doing their utmost to help.

But she has been liaising with the council to produce Eli's EHCP – a process she describes as "a mess".

Gemma claimed: "The advisor I got assigned never gets back to me, and I've never been fully given the understanding of the process.

"It was sent to Wrestlingworth, who said they could meet his needs, but it said he could recite the alphabet. Eli's non verbal!"

The final straw was when the EHCP was posted to the wrong family, with Gemma finding out on July 18.

A CBC spokesman, said: “We don’t comment on individual cases. Every child deserves to receive the appropriate education and support they need. There is an unprecedent demand for special school places and we are actively addressing this through our ambitious plan to create more specialist places.

“We work closely with families to find a suitable and positive solution for their child’s education in both the short and long term. We appreciate sometimes this can be frustrating.

“Unfortunately, one child’s details were sent to the wrong family in the post. Although it does not meet the threshold for being reported to the ICO, we have made contact with those affected, as well as retrieving the information in person.

“We continue to reinforce with our staff the importance of both data protection and appropriate checks and processes. We’re considering what further training, support and checks could be implemented to prevent these sorts of errors occurring in the future.”

Gemma added: "I asked for Ivel Valley [which teaches pupils with profound learning difficulties] to be consulted in March with the EHCP draft, but found out that they never were. I have appealed the mainstream placement. Woolgrove, the Mild Learning Disability school, have said his needs are too severe.

"CBC are still sending Eli to mainstream [in Wrestlingworth], which will be approximately six hours a week, due to it not being suitable. He is due to go back to SEN panel in November to see if Ivel will take him, but that won't be until at least September 2025."