28 Mar 2024
When the St Albans Times first met Zoe Traynor, she was taking part in a city centre demonstration highlighting the need for improved funding for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Last October’s protest was organised by SEND Reform England, a group set up to fight for more specialist schools and school places, more SEND funding, in mainstream schools, easier and quicker access to diagnostic services and support, and a dedicated government SEND minister.
At the time Zoe told us how she had been forced to give up work to become a full-time carer for her two sons, Hugh and Dexter, then aged five and six.
“It needs to be easier to get children into SEND schools. I’ve begged, screamed and cried for a place in the right setting. At the moment the journey to school is longer than the time they’re actually there, which is just two hours a day.
“Nobody understands or cares about us.”
Now, almost six months later, the situation is no better.
Last year Ofsted issued a damning report into HCC’s SEND provision, issuing the lowest rating possible and identifying failings that have “significant negative impact on the experiences and outcomes of children and young people”.
At the time, a statement issued by the department promised change: “We want to say sorry to you, our families.
“We accept the findings of the report. We understand the scale of the issues, and know that too many children and young people with SEND and their families have not had the service and outcomes they need and deserve.
“We have already put in place strong improvement plans. We are determined to build on them to go further and faster to deliver the improvements needed.”
For Zoe, who lives in Beech Road, St Albans, these improvements have not materialised.
Although Hugh has been granted a place at Southfield SEND school in Hatfield from September, she is still struggling to find a place for Dexter, despite the fact that the school has agreed her son meets the guidance and they can support his specific needs.
She explained: “Both Hugh and Dexter have Band 3 EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plan} and their mainstream school can’t meet their needs. Both boys have sensory processing disorder so find the busy mainstream school too overwhelming, causing them to have meltdowns, become dysregulated and distressed.
“A smaller school – with smaller class sizes and a higher teacher student ratio – is needed. A more bespoke less demanding curriculum is needed for children with autism and learning difficulties, which Southfield does for every child, with onsite break-out rooms, therapists and autism friendly spaces. The layout of the school building is safer and more secure, the same with the playground.
“Hugh was first referred for an autism assessment when he was two years old and Dexter when he was 10 months old, since then they have both been diagnosed with autism, and Hugh also has further needs. Not all children with autism require a specialist school, however lots of them are happier in one, so I can’t understand why more spaces weren’t made available over the years when there is clearly a demand and so many children like mine in need and struggling.
“We are now five years down the line from that first referral and I can’t believe how challenging certain aspects of having children with additional needs are, when it really doesn’t have to be.”
She said her experience with Herts county council over this time has been agonising.
“The disorganisation, lies, delays, excuses, staff shortages, staff quitting and lost documents has been relentless. Last year Hugh’s case officer quit and no one replaced her for months, they also lost documents and overrun on the legal time frame – sometimes twice as long as it should be. My children are just a reference number to HCC, there is a lack of empathy and support when you’re in this situation. Some people don’t really understand. Others simply don’t care.
“The impact personally on me, as their mum is that I feel exhausted, I am so anxious and overwhelmed all of the time. I feel as though I have let my children down, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get them the specialist school they need and deserve.
“Since January there have been delays and excuses. At first I was promised a March panel date, however they were vague as to when this was, and it was only after I lodged complaints that they admitted there were random panels due to the high demand.”
After being given an initial date of March 14, this was then pushed to March 18, April 5, and now looks likely to be delayed even further.
To add to her stress, one of the HCC officers dealing with her case inadvertently copied her into an email chain making disparaging comments about the number of people Zoe CC’d into correspondence.
But despite all of her experiences over the past few years, Zoe refuses to give up fighting for her boys: “Raising autistic children is wonderful, I love them unconditionally, they have made me appreciate so many little things and live a more unique lifestyle, but it saddens me that the basic human right of having access to a full time education has been taken away and I have had to really fight for it. I will keep fighting till my voice is heard and Hugh and Dexter are happy and settled in a specialist school.”
Herts county council refuses to comment on individual cases, so the response we received was a very generic one which failed to elaborate on the details Zoe has raised.
A spokesman said: “We would like to apologise for the delays in this case and can assure the parent concerned that every effort is being made to resolve this matter. We are committed to working in partnership with young people, parents, carers and schools to ensure that all children with SEND and EHCPs in Hertfordshire receive the support they need and deserve.
“Hertfordshire is a large county with the sixth highest cohort of children and young people supported with EHC Plans nationally. There has also been a significant increase in the numbers if children and young people with EHC Plans in Hertfordshire since reforms to SEND provision with a 223% increase since 2015.
“There continues to be pressure on those delivering SEND services.
“To improve the service, the council moved last year to provide additional investment to transform the service and recruitment of additional staff is underway to bring down the times that parents have to wait either for an assessment, support to start or for a specialist school place to be found. While this work will take time to filter through as staff are trained, we expect this additional investment in conjunction with our SEND improvement plan to deliver a better service.
“This strategy includes an additional ongoing £7million investment into statutory SEND services and creating 1,000 new SEND school places between 2018 and 2026.”
