(UK) Derbs: Mom has to fight for years to get special place for non-verbal son

July 22, 2025, Derbyshire Times: “We shouldn't have to fight so our children can be happy and learn”: Derbyshire mum speaks up after council fails to respond to SEND school place offer for non-verbal boy

E. Midlands

A mum has issued an important message to Derbyshire parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities after years of fighting for her son’s education.

Amy Britland, from South Normanton, first applied for an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) for her son Leo Marsden almost two years ago.

She put Alfreton Park School as her first choice and the school offered a place for Leo, six, who is non-verbal and has an autism diagnosis.

But the council failed to respond to the school’s letter of acceptance in time, with Leo losing his spot at the school he was meant to attend from September 2025.

After months of fight, which saw Amy contacting a private SENCO, her local MP Natalie Fleet and Alfreton Park School, complaining to the Derbyshire County Council and showing up at the council’s offices in Matlock, last week Leo was finally offered a place at Alfreton Park School in September.

Amy said: “It's really unfair. I shouldn't have to be chasing this up. It feels like SEND children are just pushed to the side.

“Parents like myself, we shouldn't have to fight and argue and chase things up for a placement so our children can be happy and learn.

 “I've been fighting for this for two years and now I am exactly where I wanted. But it took a lot of headaches, arguments and fighting, and we shouldn't have to go through that. . . .

“You're waiting months and months for the EHCP draft to come back to you. In the meantime, you're trying to fight for a special needs school when your child's struggling in a mainstream school, and the council act as if they had all the time in the world.

 “My son is non-verbal so he can’t communicate his needs, he has an autism diagnosis and we are waiting for an ADHD assessment. He was getting suspended from his current mainstream school, he's been suspended three times in six weeks. He shouldn’t be there in the first place.

“And the main issue is that the council ignored the special needs school that had accepted him so he lost the spot.

“If it wasn't for the fight that I took up and the help from the school, SENCO and my local MP, there would have been at least another year of fighting, and it probably would have probably ended at a tribunal. . . .

Now Amy has issued advice to other Derbyshire parents fighting for a special school place for their children.

She said: “Don't give up. Go and ring your MP, go to the main offices, stand your ground.

 “At the end of the day, the council are not helping. You need to make a point and make a stand, because it is your child you’re fighting for. . . .

Sadly, Amy’s experience is not unique. I regularly hear from families across the constituency who are being let down by a SEND system that is under-resourced, overly bureaucratic, and simply not fit for purpose. We need urgent reform to ensure that children with additional needs aren’t excluded or forgotten, and that their parents are supported, not left to battle alone."

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for SEND and Education Councillor Jack Bradley said: “We acknowledge the concerns raised by Leo's family and apologise for any anxiety caused by the uncertainty while we agreed a specialist setting for him and his school placement was secured.

“We and our partners are working to ensure exclusions from school are reduced and that schools and other settings provide an inclusive offer for all children.

“We're increasing specialist provision in mainstream and specialist educational settings so that all children and young people have the opportunity to attend somewhere that meets their needs.”