My son, 10, has been rejected from THIRTY schools through no fault of his own – council refuses to make easy fix
A MUM has revealed how her son has been rejected from 30 schools – all through no fault of his own.
Kelly Adams says she doesn’t know which way to turn as her 10-year-old son Harley prepares to leave primary school in four weeks.
Harley, who is autistic and non-verbal, can only be taught over small increments of time due to his complex needs.
His mum has worked with a special educational needs officer at Medway Council to send his education plan to a number of special needs schools across Kent.
But Kelly claims 30 have now rejected her applications on the basis they can’t meet her son’s needs.
She now fears his her son will regress if they are unable to sort the issue, undoing “amazing” work carried out at his primary school in Gillingham, Kent.
Instead, Harley may have to be home-schooled for a period while they continue the search.
Kelly told KentOnline: “He wants to go to school. It’s part of his routine. He loves seeing the other children. He likes to play on the field and with the water in between his learning.
“I am a single parent with a four-year-old as well. He can’t go from a school with teachers and teaching assistants to just me.
“He will regress and all that hard work will be gone. I can’t give him what a school can give him.”
Kelly claims she initially sent application forms to eight school, all of which were refused.
She sent the form out again following the rejections, but has now been left with a dwindling list of options.
The mum-of-two has called on Medway Council to “stop building houses” in favour of providing resources for children with special needs.
This includes building extra facilities at Danecourt, Harley’s current school.
Her final option is launching a crowdfunding campaign,
A spokesman for Medway Council said: “Medway Council continues to work to ensure there are sufficient places in the right provision for our children and young people.
“We are continuously developing further provision to meet the growing needs and where necessary commissioning independent providers.”
Your rights if a child is rejected from a school
If you have applied to a school and it does not offer your child a place, you can appeal the decision.
Government guidance states you can only appeal once for a place in the same school in the same academic year.
However, you may appeal a decision a second time if there has been a “significant change of circumstances”.
Parents are advised to speak to their local council if their child has an Education, Health and Care plan that names a particular school which has refused admission.
In your admission decision letter, reasons should be provided as to why your child was refused.
You can make an appeal because you want your child to attend a particular school over any other, but the stronger your reasons the better chance you have of your appeal being successful.
An appeal against a decision has to be made in writing and typically within 20 school days of the rejection letter.
Appeal hearings can be heard both in-person and remotely.
The hearing takes place across two stages, when an independent panel will hear both the school’s and parent’s cases.
A clerk will then write to you within five school days to give notice of the panel’s decision.