'SEND school delays left us feeling like failures'

A Derbyshire mum feels like she is "failing" her daughter who has been left waiting to see if she can obtain a place in a suitable special educational needs (SEND) school.

Phoebe, who has autism, is due to begin Year 5 next year and was offered two SEND school places on the condition Derbyshire County Council provided an updated education health and care plan.

The family, from Derbyshire, submitted their paperwork in July and local authorities need to respond within four weeks - but four months on, they say they have received nothing back and fear those places will be lost.

The county council said it had now spoken to the family and Phoebe's plan will be reviewed soon.

Emma's mum, Phoebe, said: "We chased and chased, email after email after email.

"And ultimately, we don't know what next year looks like now. And that's really difficult to come to terms with."

Emma says a mainstream school is "not feasible" for Phoebe next year because they do not have the funds or staff to support her.

She added: "If we don't have a placement, it's home schooling, and we're not teachers, we don't have a clue what to do. If we have to do that, we have to give up our business.

"We never thought we would be in this position.

"We had Phoebe's education, in our minds, mapped out with the school she has now...the school tried really, really hard.

"It's devastating...we feel like we're failing.

"The council are putting their problems on to our children's futures. There's no excuse for it."

Dad Lee says he feels the council is not "upholding its end of the bargain" in its responsibilities towards children with special educational needs like Phoebe, who is currently in a mainstream school.

"It's the not knowing of how it's going to impact Phoebe. She deserves the same chance as every other child."

Derbyshire County Council is responsible for compiling education health and care plans.

A spokesperson told the BBC the authority has spoken to the family in recent days and Phoebe’s updated plan will shortly be viewed by the SEND panel for consideration.

A government regulator this month found "widespread and systemic failings" around the outcomes of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across Derbyshire.

The Ofsted report said children "wait too long" for their needs to be assessed which has led to some "missing large amounts of their education", leaving families like Phoebe's in crisis.

Derbyshire County Council's cabinet member for education Alex Dale added the authority accepts all the findings and apologised.

"We're going to continue working extremely hard and redouble our efforts to try and really improve at a much faster rate, as Ofsted have rightly pointed out we need to.

"But I can't offer guarantees that things will get magically better within a short period of time because it's just the nature of the system. It's extremely challenged and pushed at the moment."

NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, which oversees SEND provision alongside the council in Derbyshire, said: "We apologise to children, parents and carers for the failings this report has identified.

"We are disappointed with the findings of the report but we are determined to address the issues."

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