June 19, 2024, BBC News: Parents of SEND children accuse council of 'neglect'
NW England
Parents of children with special needs and disabilities staged a protest over their local council's "failure" to provide them with a proper education.
One mother at the protest outside Wirral Council's headquarters in Birkenhead, Rachel Scott, said she had once asked if education bosses were simply "waiting for her daughter to die".
She and other protesters said the council was "neglecting" their children's needs.
Wirral Council said it recognised required improvements have been "slow".
The council was issued with an improvement notice by the Department for Education (DfE) in May "as a result of poor progress against the actions and deliverables" required by Ofsted.
Ofsted highlighted 10 areas of "significant concern" in an inspection published on 9 December 2021, but parents have claimed "nothing has been done". . . .
Tina Yourelis, from Bromborough, said her ten-year-old son, who has autism, was expelled when he was four.
She said she has gone to tribunals and has stood in as a SEND governor at her son's school in a bid to help other parents. . . .
'Restrained 86 times'
Protester Sue Peacock, an independent SEND advocate who has five autistic children, told BBC Radio Merseyside she felt she had "missed her children's childhood fighting the local authority".
Angela Tait, from Hoylake, said her son had been "restrained 86 times" at a former school, and she decided to educate him at home after the "traumatic experience". . . . .
"As I did at the time of publication, I accept and acknowledge this move from the Department for Education as, since being inspected in 2021, our progress to improve has been slow," Ms Hartley said.
She said the council, members of the parent-carer forum, and other partners, meet regularly as part of a partnership-wide improvement board.
"As a system, we have an important job to do and will remain focused on delivering the best provision for children and young people with SEND," she added.
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