By Olivia Andrews

Copyright grampianonline

Moray Council has admitted that parents of children with additional support needs believe “the current system is failing them”.

A council meeting considered a survey which revealed the “frustration and disappointment” felt by parents and carers about their children’s education.

Responses to the survey were discussed at a meeting of the Education, Children’s and Leisure Services Committee.

The report revealed that parents felt “abandoned” with an “absence of support from various agencies, particularly for children with complex needs”.

Parents also felt “widespread dissatisfaction” about speech and language therapy services, said schools were “failing to meet their children’s needs due to lack of resources and communication” and funding cuts had led to “less support and fewer services”.

The survey also found that families felt they have been left “in the dark” about their children’s education with a need for better mental health support.

However, the survey also reported that some parents believed strongly that integrating children with significant issues into mainstream schools is “harmful” and favour special schools.

Moray Council does not operate a dedicated school for children with additional support needs.

Councillor Juli Harris (Speyside Glenlivet, SNP) raised her concern that the survey results highlighted a “dilemma” between integration and specialist support.

“A huge amount of investment and resources have gone into inclusion in mainstream and Moray schools,” she added.

However, head of education Vivienne Cross responded that Scottish Government policy is to keep children, as much as possible, in mainstream education and confirmed no plans were in place to create a special school.

”The Scottish Government’s mantra is presumption of mainstreaming and that what we are trying to deliver,” Ms Cross said.

“We have invested huge amounts in training for our staff.”

Parents of children with additional support needs were split on the topic of integration.

Half of respondents agreed that their child should be educated in a mainstream school, with enhanced provisions to provide tailored support.

However, concerns were also raised that there was not enough additional support and enhanced provisions available, leading to negative experiences for children.

While other parents argued “that integrating children with significant issues into mainstream schools is harmful and advocate for special schools.”

Ms Cross added: “It’s good to have this survey as a baseline.

“We understand that there will be some people that aren’t very happy and that’s why we will be setting up a support group for parents.

“We will go back out to parents and carers again in another couple of years to see whether that situation has changed as we roll out our approaches.”

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