A CHEPSTOW mother has slammed the local education authority (LEA) for leaving children with special educational needs to ‘rot’ in a system designed to make them ‘fail’.

Claire Pottenger says her six-year-old son, who attends Pembroke Primary School, suffers with numerous special educational needs and is being denied help due to a lack of funding.

Among the issues Matthew suffers with are Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and pathological demand avoidance syndrome (PDAS).

Monmouthshire County Council says it is unable to comment on individual cases.

Mrs Pottenger said: “The LEA claim the school is supporting him but the school said they can’t due to a lack of funds. I know of quite a few other children that are also being left without appropriate educational support.

“These kids are being left to rot in an education system designed to make them fail. These children have a legal right to access an appropriate education and this is being ignored.”

Matthew’s conditions mean he is loud, disruptive and unable to concentrate on one task.

Claire added: “He needs one-to-one support in the classroom which the school has been trying to get but the LEA will not give him funding. I am meeting soon with those at the authority to discuss why he can’t have this.

“His occupational therapist has advised exercises and extra support to be carried out in the classroom which the school cannot do due to time constraints. One-to-one support is needed.”

A spokesperson for Monmouthshire County Council said: “The authority provides every school in Monmouthshire with a delegated lump sum of funding intended to be prioritised and meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, requiring 50 per cent teaching assistant support or less. 

“Where it is considered that a pupil has more complex difficulties requiring access to higher level of support, schools follow the criteria outlined in the Monmouthshire strategic pol-

icy and procedure for ALN (additional learning needs) and the SEN (special educational needs) code of practice Wales to release additional band funding where deemed appropriate by the authority’s resource panel, which includes headteacher representation.

“We can confirm that the authority works closely with all our schools and parents to meet the needs of all pupils. We are unable to comment on individual cases.”