Mum calls for SEND schools to be election priority

Tracey is home-schooling daughter Lilimae over concerns about SEND provision in the education system

A parent says she has "run out of doors to knock on" when it comes to finding appropriate special educational needs and disability (SEND) provisions for her autistic daughter.

Tracey, from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, has resorted to teaching her 15-year-old daughter Lilimae at home after she felt unable to get appropriate support from her school.

Tracey wants more schools designed for children with a range of different needs.

"[Lilimae] doesn't really fit into a special school," says Tracey.

But Tracey does not think mainstream schools are the right fit either.

She believes teachers are not given enough training to provide SEND children with the support they need and "doesn't know what the future holds".

Tracey is just one example. Some SEND parents have been fighting to get school places for their children.

There are SEND children who are going months and even years waiting to be placed.

Parents of children with special educational needs have held protests over the quality of local services

Alexandra Foster is the acting head of the Unicorn School in Abingdon - which provides education to children with additional needs.

She says she is noticing a "surge" in the number of SEND related enquiries.

"There's no doubt we are experiencing a SEND crisis both locally and nationally," she says.

Research by the BBC in 2023 found that half of state-funded schools in England for SEND children were oversubscribed.

But the issue goes as far back as 2017, when Ofsted inspectors found "significant weaknesses" in Oxfordshire's SEND provision.

Two years later, a re-inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission said most of the areas of weakness had been addressed but improvements needed to be made.

In May 2021, the Lib Dems, Green and Labour parties went into coalition at Oxfordshire County Council, and it was promised that SEND provision would be prioritised.

The SEND budget was increased every year but there was still a shortfall.

In March 2023, parents complained that they still had not heard about available school places.

In September last year, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission published its joint report into SEND provision that found "widespread failings".

And just last month, the county council agreed to pay more than £6,000 in compensation to the family of a boy with autism who did not receive appropriate education for a whole year.

What do the candidates say?

Oxford West and Abingdon's candidate for the Conservatives, Vinay Raniga, says they will deliver "60,0000 more school places and a further 15 new free schools for children with educational needs".

Labour's Stephen Webb says the party will "provide support and training to teachers to all schools".

Layla Moran is the Lib Dems' candidate. She has pledged that the party "will give schools additional funding" and "put a mental health professional" in all schools.

The Greens say more funding needs to go into SEND provision.

Christian Peoples Alliance think that funding should be re-prioritised to front line education services including SEND programmes.

Reform UK's says the right structure is in place but councils are not being given enough money from the government.

The Social Democratic Party say more funding is needed from councils and central government, but this funding should not be taken away from other schools to do so.

You can find a full list of candidates on the BBC news website.