SEND failings see year seven pupil stuck in primary school

Mateo Malcolm should have moved up to secondary school in September along with his friends.

Instead, the year seven pupil is stuck in primary school and facing missing out on potentially two years of proper education due to what his mum has described as a “complete and utter sham” of a special educational needs & disabilities (SEND) process in Bristol.

Charlene Marshall says the ongoing ordeal has shattered her son’s self-esteem and left him feeling victimised and excluded because he hasn’t been able to progress through the education system alongside his peers.

It all started for the Redcliffe-based family earlier this year when preparations got underway for Mateo to move up to secondary school.

The 11-year-old has type one diabetes as well as autism, which can make it more challenging to manage his medical condition.

It is vital that Mateo has someone who is immediately able to meet his medical needs in case of an emergency – something his mum and hospital healthcare team made clear when stipulating their preferred school, which was one that is close to the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) and also Charlene’s place of work.

Charlene Marshall says the ongoing ordeal with securing a secondary school place has shattered Mateo’s self-esteem – photo: Charlene Marshall

Despite repeated attempts to keep in contact with Bristol City Council’s SEND team, Charlene says she was refused the opportunity to have a meeting to view the draft education health care plan (EHCP) for Mateo.

When it was finally issued, the EHCP barely mentioned diabetes and assigned Mateo to a school that Charlene says is unable to meet his needs, as well as far from those trained to help him in an emergency.

Charlene says that documents online also state that the allocated school is unable to meet his needs.

“The EHCP as it stands is a safeguarding issue for wherever he goes – he’d be in hospital by the end of the day,” says Charlene.

“It’s almost like they did not want to use the information they were given. The SEND office has not wanted to have any dialogue with me, I have just heard excuse after excuse.”

A single mum, Charlene juggles looking after Mateo and her six-year-old daughter and work at Willow Park Primary School, where her son currently remains despite seeing all of his peer group move on.

She says she requested mediation with the SEND team in a bid to resolve the situation but this was refused.

Bristol City Council has been approached by Bristol24/7 and said it won’t comment on an individual case at this stage.

The matter will now go to a tribunal in July next year, but the fear is that this will be too late for Mateo to secure a secondary school place for September 2023, risking setting his education back further still.

Charlene Marshall says the SEND officers have left her family in a terrible situation  – photo: Charlene Marshall

Charlene is grateful her son is able to attend Willow Park, saying the alternative would be for him to be out of education completely, forcing her out of a job to care for him.

But the situation is taking its toll on her entire family.

“They have really put me and my family in a terrible position,” Charlene tells Bristol24/7.

“I’m a single mum, I don’t drive and I have a six-year-old daughter. Everything is time sensitive – we have a very short time to get him medical attention if he has an episode.”

Despite his serious condition, Mateo has always lived a full life and participated fully in school activities – from acting in a school production of Hamlet to going on residential camps.

His mum says the failure to secure him a suitable secondary school place is unravelling years of work to build his confidence and ensure he is included and allowed the education he is entitled to.

“They have completely wrecked my son’s self-esteem, they have crushed his will. He is further excluded and feeling victimised,” she says sadly.

“He is currently sat in a primary school as a safe place with children much younger than him.”

Christine Townsend says SEND officers had numerous opportunities to avoid reaching this “critical situation” – photo: Green Party

Christine Townsend is a Green councillor for Southville and the party’s shadow cabinet lead for education. She has been working to support Charlene and Mateo through their ordeal and says SEND officers had numerous opportunities to avoid reaching this “critical situation”, describing it as “truly shocking”.

“The mismanagement of this case lies in a failure to listen to the parent, the school and the student’s life-long hospital-based health team,” says Christine.

“I supported Charlene in requesting the mediation service after the council had failed to hear the importance of her son’s needs and the genuine threats to his health their plan would have posed in moving into a new school.

“This mediation process is part of the statutory SEND code and exists to help prevent matters escalating to a formal legal tribunal. However, the council’s SEND department refused to engage with it, leaving Charlene’s only option further action via the courts and lawyers.

“This is costly, time-consuming, demoralising and, most importantly, is now getting in the way of Charlene’s son receiving the suitable education he is entitled to by law.

“Parents of children with SEND should not have to go to court to ensure the education authority hears and caters for the needs of their children.”

Main photo: Charlene Marshall

Read next:

• Report into council’s surveillance of SEND parents branded a ‘whitewash’
• Ofsted returning to Bristol to check progress on improving special needs education
• £15m to address shortage of SEND places in Bristol 
• Calls for urgent independent inquiry into Bristol City Council surveillance of SEND parents

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