'Don't give up fighting for a SEND school place'

A family who say the fight to get their autistic son a special school place left them feeling "exhausted and ill" are urging others not to give up the fight.

Brooke and Mark, from Beverley in East Yorkshire, claimed their son, Max, 8, was threatened with exclusion from the specialist unit at the school he attends for displaying behaviour linked to his disability.

The couple said they were repeatedly told by East Riding of Yorkshire Council there were "no special school places available", forcing them to document their personal struggle on social media.

The authority said it worked with schools and families to review local needs and available places.

In January, the council told the BBC that it received the lowest amount of funding for Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in the country, with £18m less per year than the average.

The government recently announced it would invest £4bn in SEND provision over the next three years, as well as setting out sweeping reforms to the SEND system in England.

However, Brooke said until funding seeped through the system, there were many families like them stuck waiting.

Brooke and Mark chose to move Max, who is non-verbal and had previously enjoyed learning, according to his parents, from a mainstream school in Hull to an Enhanced Resource Provision (ERP) unit in East Yorkshire in 2025.

The ERP is a specialist area within a mainstream primary school, which states on its website that it is designed for children "with a high level of need".

However, after just five weeks the family said Max's timetable was reduced to just one hour of schooling per day.

Brooke said two biting incidents led to the reduction but explained biting was a "common trait of autism".

"The school said they can't cope, they can't meet need and it was all down to that," said Brooke.

"Max has been discriminated against for his disability. The local authority is failing him."

In response, the council said it could not comment on individual cases but added it reviewed local needs to ensure it provided the right type of specialist places.

Mark said threats of exclusion by the unit then followed but his timetable had slowly increased and he was allowed to stay at school until lunchtime.

Brooke and Mark have asked the BBC not to name the school.

"We've seen Max go backwards," added Brooke. "Everything we have seen him learn and develop is slowly going.

"We have been desperate, we just wanted the local authority to listen."

After the BBC visited the family, they were offered a place at a special school, which they have accepted.

They hope Max will start his new school after Easter.

On Sunday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC she appreciated "the big challenges around support for children with SEND".

Mark urged other parents in a similar situation to "please don't give up".

"We have gone to the extreme of contacting the press, going to our local MP, contacting Ofsted and getting a solicitor involved.

"We got there in the end, even if it did make us ill."