By Tess Rushin

A Coalville mum contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after seeing a Facebook post about the record number of children being offered a first choice school place in 'mainstream' school.

She said: "That's fantastic, but there are thousands of other special educational needs children that cannot get what they need".

Carla Brooks' son Abel is seven years old. She said he is autistic, has learning difficulties and limited communication.

The 38-year-old said her son is currently in a specialist moderate learning difficulties (MLD) unit in an infant school, and is due to finish this July.

She explained that she has been trying to sort his school place for next year, but has been waiting on the Special Educational Needs Assessment and Commissioning Service (SENA) for two years to finalise his education and health care plan (EHCP).

She claimed this caused a delay in the EHCP paperwork going through and so when it got to the school admissions team, they said there was a lack of places, she added. She said they have offered her schools up to 47 miles away and told her that she may have to accept that he would end up in a mainstream school.

Mrs Brooks said the EHCP dated Tuesday, February 15 outlined a need for a special school, but stated, as yet, the council had failed to find him a placement. She claimed the council said they had still got time to find him somewhere suitable but, she said, she is worried he won't get a transition period (which is outlined in Abel's EHCP) for the new school.

She said he needs this and she is "not prepared to just to turn up with him to a brand new school that he has never seen on the first day of term".

Mrs Brooks said they had been "battling trying to get in touch" (with the school admissions team) and had been told she was not allowed to ring them. She added she was only allowed to email them and had to go on the same email thread because she had already made a complaint, she added.

She said the whole process was like "banging her head against a brick wall". She added Abel's caseworker had recently told her that he'd been offered three places – one which was a state school in Grantham, 47 miles from home, another one which was an independent school in Warwickshire 41 miles from home. She said she'd also been offered a third place which was over 30 miles from her house.

Mrs Brooks said the offers were "utterly ridiculous".

She added that the schools admissions team told her she would be eligible for transport for the suggested schools - and that expecting a child with additional needs to travel up to 47 miles one way to school every day was disgraceful in her opinion.

She said the council gave them a personal transport budget (PTB) because they don't use the taxi service, so she is given mileage for taking her son to school. She said: "By the time they have paid me a substantial transport amount if he went 47 miles from home, and his school cost, surely it would still be cheaper to send him to a local independent placement?"

"It just breaks my heart to think how he's just treated as nothing. It's a basic right to have access to education. He needs to learn some basic life skills and he just needs to enjoy school like everybody else. What's it going to do sending him miles and miles away to school."

A spokesperson from Leicestershire County Council said: "We are working hard to find a suitable school place and have already approached many schools, however, none of those we have approached have come back saying they are suitable. We will continue in our efforts to find an appropriate school place."