My son, 10, hasn’t gone to school for a YEAR – I took him out after he was bullied and no one is helping
A MISERABLE mum has battled for a whole YEAR to get her special needs son back into education, after an extremely distressing incident meant he was no longer safe at his own school.
Georgia Still, 28, is at a complete "loss" over her son Ethan, who is scared to leave the house and has "non-existent" social skills.
In June 2021, the young mum took her 10-year-old out of his previous school which she believed was "unable to keep him safe" any more.
She hoped to find Ethan a place at a special needs school as he has ASD, ADHD and additional speech and language needs.
But 12 months later Georgia had to quit her job in desperation to homeschool her son.
The family from Gravesend, Kent, are legally entitled to support by Ethan's EHCP (education, health and care plan) setting out his extra needs.
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And Kent County Council (KCC) have tried tirelessly to help Georgia and Ethan - but nothing has worked.
A spokesperson for the council said: "In Ethan's particular circumstance identifying a school with this specialist support has been challenging.
"Our SEND team has been working since last June to try to satisfy Ethan's specific needs."
Georgia remembered the incident which triggered her change a year ago.
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She said: "His mental health was taking a battering. Enough was enough.
"He often came home from school upset but on this particular day he said he had been kept in a bathroom and he had smashed things up."
Although Georgia is still unclear what exactly happened, she knew it meant bad news for Ethan's school life.
She added: "The time Ethan spent at the school he was labelled ‘the naughty kid’, ‘the kid that doesn’t listen’ and ‘hard work’.
"I asked the school for meetings upon meetings to try and come up with strategies that would help Ethan.
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"Every meeting the school unofficially admitted they cannot meet Ethan’s needs and they were unable to keep him safe."
In the last year, KCC has consulted with four primary schools and seven specialist school with no luck.
Georgia's top choice for her son told her it could not meet Ethan's needs, and her second favourite school was completely full.
Luckily, when KCC realised Ethan was out of school in October, the council "almost immediately" arranged private tuition for Ethan at home - but it isn't a perfect solution.
Now Ethan, who was tutored until April before Georgia temporarily took over his lessons, is falling rapidly behind his peers.
Georgia said: "He is suffering. His social skills are practically non-existent. He doesn't like leaving the house.
"The only children he interacts with are my friends' kids."
She added that Ethan's two-hour daily tuition, paid for by KCC, improved his maths and English but "didn't help with Ethan’s social interaction or the remainder of his learning".
To make matters worse, "a misunderstanding about funding" cut this little bit of schooling short in April, forcing Georgia to homeschool her son for a while.
In the end, the tuition payments have now been resolved, but the situation took a heavy toll on Georgia herself.
She has had to quit her day job and suffers anxiety and depression.
Georgia said: "I try my best but I'm not a teacher.
"I don't know why they can't apply for more schools.
"I've told them transport isn't an issue. I can drive so I'm willing to take him anywhere, I've told them that.
"I’m going around in circles. We've had five or six different case workers. I am currently at a loss on how else to help my son."
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The KCC spokesperson said: "Every child deserves the education that is appropriate for their needs.
"Children with SEN do require, at times, additional support and these are on rare occasions specialist which are by design not available in mainstream schools."
