Mum claims autistic son was excluded twice a week as school 'can't cope' with him
A mum claims her son was excluded twice in one week, as his school ‘can’t cope’ with him.
Lucie Oakes believes her local primary school took the ‘easy way out’ instead of dealing with her son’s autism.
Now, the frustrated mum is protesting for better support for special education needs kids.
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Like many parents of autistic children, Lucie has struggled to find a school with can accommodate her son’s needs.
With the nearest SEN school over 30 miles away, the former housekeeper has had to put her son in a local mainstream primary.
Though she admits the teachers are ‘fantastic’, she says that there’s a lack of resources and training available to staff who struggled to understand her son.
Often, Logan will get overstimulated by loud noises in the classroom leading to meltdowns, with him lashing out, swearing and breaking things.
Having been booted out of school several times, Lucie has had to pick up the pieces and even quit her job as a housekeeper to be close by.
Emotionally exhausted, she even broke down in front of the headmaster after her son began throwing things moments after she left.
Fed up with the broken system, the mum took to TikTok last month and uploaded an angry video alleging that the school had taken the ‘easy way out’.
She said: "I feel sometimes they [schools] do not have enough understanding and they've not got enough resources there to deal with it. They'll just send him home because they can't cope.
"His class teacher and his teaching assistant are fantastic. But there's only so much they can do.”
Frustrated by the broken system, Lucie has organised a protest in Norfolk and has signed up to SEND Reform England, group of parents campaigning for better support of SEN kids.
With the protest to take place later this Friday (13 October), the mum hopes for change.
Lucie said: "Unfortunately, SEN children are the most vulnerable in society, but they seem to be the ones that are forgotten about.
"They've not got enough trained SEN teachers within mainstream schools."
Meanwhile, Norfolk County Council say they’ve created over 650 new SEN places in the last five years, with 15 new school support teams.
A spokesperson for Norfolk County Council said: "We want every child in Norfolk with SEND to flourish, by ensuring they can access high-quality education with the right support for their needs in their local area first.
"Alongside the DfE, we're investing £100 million in a six-year programme that will support children in mainstream school and develop more specialist places for those with the highest needs.
"This joint investment between the council and the DfE has been agreed as part of a national programme of SEND improvements as it has been acknowledged that Norfolk is not alone in facing the challenges of wanting to meet needs as early as possible, in mainstream education, whilst also ensuring sufficient specialist provision for those who need it.
"In the last five years, we've created more than 650 new specialist education places. We've recently successfully bid to develop two new special schools, in Downham Market and Great Yarmouth, one for children with ASD and one for children with complex needs. This is in addition to schools we've delivered in Great Yarmouth and Fakenham and with the DfE in Easton.
"To support schools and help children earlier, we've also just launched 15 new school and community support teams. These teams will work with teachers, early years staff, parents, and other professionals to make sure children are getting the educational support they need to thrive.
"Our plan is hugely ambitious and moving at pace, but the level of need is higher than it has ever been, as seen across the country, which does mean we can't always offer children places at specialist provision as quickly as we would want to."
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: "Councils are responsible for providing the right support for children in their areas but we know there is variation in how the system works across the country.
"The proposals in our SEND and alternative provision improvement plan will create a fairer, more inclusive system including in mainstream schools.
"We are also investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 on special and alternative provision places, most of which is going to councils to create places where they are most needed, and we are opening 41 new special free schools on top of 38 already being delivered."
Katherine Sidnell