Bracknell: Mum removes children from school over SEND concerns

Brakenhale School is run by Greenshaw Learning Trust

A mother has pulled her two children out of a school due to her concerns over the management of children with special educational needs.

Both of Caroline Tampin's children attended Brakenhale School in Bracknell.

She said rather than receiving the correct support, her children had faced punishment and exclusion that "effectively broke them".

Greenshaw Learning Trust - which runs the school - declined to comment.

Ms Tampin's youngest child - in year seven - has autism, and she believes her year 10 daughter also has special educational needs.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service her eldest child was "ignored" in class, leading her to '"act out" and be sent to the school's equivalent of isolation.

"They just kept punishing her. She went from being a happy child to being so exhausted from school and being in isolation. She would come home and sit staring at the ceiling the entire night," she said.

Ms Tampin highlighted school rules, such as that every child has to sit up straight and follow their teachers' eyes, as "impossible" for children with conditions such as autism or ADHD.

"They're actively punishing not just special educational needs children but all students in general," she added.

Paul Wells, a former teacher at the school, recently labelled its approach as "authoritarian" - adding that it "works for the top 10% of high-performing pupils, but for everybody else it's just punishing".

Both children have now been removed from the school, with the eldest child at a new school.

Ms Tampin said it had not been an "easy decision", but added that "you can already see a difference" in her eldest child: "I've started to see a smile back on her face - I've started to see my daughter again."

Greenshaw Learning Trust declined to comment on Ms Tamplin and Mr Wells' comments, saying it encouraged parents and previous employees to instead contact the school directly with any concerns.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240.