Evesham mum 'torn' over school offer for autistic son 95 miles away

Kat says she needs to find out the school's residential arrangements and when Rhys could come home

The mother of an autistic boy says she feel "torn" over whether to accept a place at a special education needs school 95 miles away from home.

Rhys, from Worcestershire, has not been to school for a year, his mother Kat said, as the council could not find a suitable place.

She wants him back in education, but was "quite worried" about him living so far away from home.

The county council says it has been trying to find a school place locally.

Rhys was previously offered a place in Derbyshire, 100 miles from his Evesham home. Kat said she accepted it, but was later in tears when it went to another child.

And this week she was told a placement had been found in Oakham, Leicestershire.

"It's a school for him, but it's still 95 miles away and near enough two hours away from home," she said.

Kat said she was considering what to do, because there were few options.

"I feel like if I don't accept this he's not going to get anything. I just feel like I'm being backed in a corner to either accept it or I'm going to lose out for him."

She said she had a phone appointment with the school in December and then wanted to visit and find out about its residential arrangements.

"I'm not 100% sure just at the moment, but I'm stuck, I'm torn between what to do," she said.

"I don't want to feel like I am giving up on my son, I want to feel like I am giving him the best chance in life."

Rhys cannot read and write and wants to learn, his mum said

Kat said her son had been excluded from his primary school and then went to a school 45 minutes away in Redditch, which he left a year ago.

Worcestershire County Council said it was aware Rhys had experienced a severely disrupted start to his education which had affected his learning.

"This is not a situation we want any child to be in," said councillor Tracey Onslow, cabinet member for education.

"We are continuing to work alongside his family to look at alternative options that meet his complex needs and allow him to access full-time provision, whilst we continue to seek a suitable school placement close to home."

Prof Barry Carpenter, from Oxford Brookes University, who is an expert in autism and mental health, told the BBC the situation was "not acceptable", but was not just a problem in Worcestershire.

"This is being replicated up and down the country for all sorts of children," he said, adding many children with complex needs were out of the school system.

Prof Carpenter, a patron of the ADHD Foundation, added there were positive developments in Worcestershire - such as where he lived in Chaddesley Corbett, a new autism resource base had opened at a primary school.