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Warwickshire parents fight for suitable school for SEND child

Michelle and Neil say the SEND provision in Warwickshire is not good enough.

Two Warwickshire parents say their child won't go to secondary school in September if they can't get the SEND support he needs.

Michelle and Neil's son Mylo is due to start secondary school in September, but at the moment they say they don't have a school that can meet his needs.

Mylo has ADHD, Autism and high anxiety and his parents say he needs more support than a mainstream school can give him.

In a statement Warwickshire County Council have said:

鈥淎s a local authority we are committed to working in partnership with parents, carers and schools in the best interests of the child or young person.听听

Our aim is to work with all mainstream schools to ensure that children鈥檚 special educational needs can be met within their local schools and within their local communities. We are aware that, where specialist provision is required as part of an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC), it can on occasions take time to source. We know that this can be a challenging process for families and understand the impact any delay may have. We are continuing to work closely with the family to seek a resolution, but it would not be appropriate to comment further on an individual case.听听

In line with the national picture, Warwickshire County Council has experienced an unprecedented increase in requests for specialist provision and that has continued to raise challenges. Since 2019, the number of children and young people with an EHC plan in Warwickshire has increased from 3,898 to 6,340. Over the same time period, the number of children and young people placed in specialist settings has increased from 1,756 to 2,161.听听

To support the rise in demand, Warwickshire has increased its investment to expand specialist resource provisions from 109 in 2021 to 215 in 2023, rising to 529 places by 2028, ensuring more children with SEND receive support within their local communities. We have also consistently increased spending on SEND, with expenditures rising from 拢63.3m for the High Needs Block听in 2018/19 to 拢78.5 million in 2021/22, 拢90.8 million in 2022/2023, with the outturn for 2023/24 provisionally reported to be 拢96.9m. 听

Moving forward Warwickshire County Council remains committed to ensuring that all children receive an appropriate education tailored to their individual needs.鈥

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