Unsuitable SEN placements impacting ‘hundreds’ of children

The mother of a boy yet to find a “suitable” special educational needs (SEN) school place has said her son “misses having friends”.

Five-year-old Arthur is among a group of children who have a named place, but are not able to access it full time, according to Northern Ireland’s independent autism reviewer.

Ema Cubitt wrote to the Education Authority (EA), before the start of the school year, highlighting the issue which she claimed could be affecting hundreds of children.

The EA said it acknowledged her concerns and added it had spoken to Arthur’s family and multiple schools “in order to secure an appropriate placement”.

In her letter to the EA, Cubitt said a “significant number of families” had described circumstances such as “pending appeals, placement breakdowns, reduced timetables and informal exclusions” leading to limited educational provision.

Cubitt told BBC News NI she had asked the EA for information around the number of children who cannot attend full time because of issues with placements.

“My estimate, when I think of in a year, how many parents I have spoken to whose children are not in a suitable school place and can’t access a school place full time in the way that they should, it has to be hundreds, if not more,” she said.

Arthur had his school hours reduced to nine per week shortly after he started in September 2024.

He found it difficult to cope in a mainstream setting and his statement of SEN was later changed, after an educational psychologist recommended a place at a school with a specialist unit.

Last August, his family were informed there were no spaces available at schools with specialist provision in their local area.

The EA offered him a place at two schools with specialist units, about 20 miles away, in Dungannon and Dromara, but his mother Leia Fearnon said he would not be able to cope with the long journeys.

“I received the email to say there was no accommodation in the three schools I had chosen,” she said.

Fearnon told BBC News NI she submitted school preferences for her son in April last year, but did not receive a reply until August.

“It’s very distressing not knowing, you know you have to buy uniforms, you have to prepare the child for where they’re going to go, but we just didn’t know where he was going to be.”

Arthur’s family are now preparing to take the EA to an independent appeals panel.

Fearnon said she was “disappointed” at how drawn out the process has been and felt “let down” by the EA.

“It’s hard to be a parent and a teacher when I don’t really have the skills to teach a child,” she said.

“Arthur would love to go back to school, he misses having friends.”

The EA said it had “extensive contact” with Arthur’s family and “multiple schools in order to secure an appropriate placement”.

“Due to lack of specialist provision places within the local community, the nearest appropriate placement will require an unavoidable increase in home-to-school travel,” it added.

Cubitt said Arthur falls within a cohort of children “who do have a named place, but aren’t able to access it full time”.

“What I’m trying to shine light on is those with a school place that aren’t working,” she said.

“We need to get some data around that and really try and capture that part of the problem that exists, but is essentially invisible at the moment.”

An EA spokesperson said: “Currently, only 26% of mainstream schools offer specialist provision classes, creating geographical inequity.

“This regrettably means that some pupils with SEN cannot attend a local school alongside their siblings and friends.”

The authority said it aims to have every child with SEN “placed in their community with their peers, which supports them to reach their full potential”.

It added: “This will require a fundamental shift towards a system in which all schools offer specialist provision classes, alongside sustainable financial investment in the school estate to improve the outcomes for all our children and young people.”