Special education: Warwickshire parents' backpack demo

Each backpack is meant to represent a child who has been failed, campaigners say

Sixty school backpacks have been laid outside a council's base in protest over children "failed" by its specialist education provision.

About 30 parents gathered at the steps of Shire Hall in Warwick in silent demonstration, with each bag said to represent a child let down by Warwickshire County Council.

One mother said her son had been out of school for five years.

The council said it was "committed to supporting all our children".

Kate Morris said her son Oliver had been out of education for five years

Among the parents protesting was Kate Morris whose 10-year-old son, Oliver, has complex needs including autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"He has trauma and PTSD due to his unmet needs in mainstream school," Ms Morris said. "It's been really difficult to get any sort of provision for Oliver."

Her son has had three failed school placements, she said, and spent half of his life out of school.

She said working with the council to find him a suitable education was "a real struggle" and accused the authority of failing to listen to parents.

"We send email after email, we make phone calls, leave voicemails and they just don't listen," Ms Morris said.

She added that had the council made a suitable provision for her son earlier, he would struggle less in a school environment which she said now left him "triggered" due to past experiences.

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Parents gathered on the council steps as Ofsted began an inspection of services

The council is being inspected by the education watchdog, Ofsted, this week and campaigners say they hope the demonstration will highlight the problems faced by families.

The authority's chief executive, Monica Fogarty, said the council had "the highest aspirations for all our children and young people, including the almost 14,000 children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities".

She added: "We are committed to listening to the voices of our children and their families and should there be improvements to be made we will do so with vigour and pace."