'Empty shoes' mourn the loss of schooling for special needs children

Lines of empty shoes appeared outside Maidenhead town hall and Slough’s council offices on Monday – representing the scores of children with special needs who are ‘failed by the system’.

Parents, therapists and other concerned members of the community gathered from 10.30am until 1pm to raise awareness of their struggles with RBWM and the education system.

The SEND Sanctuary UK, a parent-led campaign group of more than 35,000 families, organised this national movement, called Every Pair Tells a Story. More than 90 local authority areas are calling for accountability and lasting meaningful reform.

The shoes represent children missing from education – as well as those whose needs have been ‘ignored, misunderstood or dismissed’.

For some children, these shoes were never worn because they were never given the right school place. For others, they were only worn ‘for a few days before everything fell apart’.

This includes children ‘isolated’ in classrooms without the right support; ‘pushed’ into unsuitable mainstream schools; and waiting years for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) that are ‘delayed, denied or disregarded.’

In RBWM, there are now more than 2,000 children and young people in the borough with an EHCP, an increase of nearly 45 per cent since 2019.

In Slough, this number is similar and represents an increase of 55 per cent. A simultaneous demonstration also took place outside Slough council’s Observatory House.

Parents are concerned about the delays to EHCPs in these areas, a shortage of specialist placements and the impact of children being educated out of their local area.

Families report waiting 30 weeks or more for EHCP decisions, far beyond the 20-week legal timeframe.

Moreover, the Local Government Ombudsman has upheld several complaints against the council regarding SEND provision delays and communication failings.

Outside the town hall, families showed up with 45 pairs of shoes – some of which were empty of messages, because some parents were ‘so sick of telling their stories’.

Some were afraid to use their real names, worried that it could be detrimental to their child.

Sara Hoskins, part of the Windsor and Maidenhead hub of Every Pair Tells a Story, said the silent protest at the town hall offered a sense of community for the families still suffering.

Parents said ‘time and time again’ that it ‘felt like a fight’ to get their children the right education,’ Sara added.

“It shouldn’t,” she said. “The SEND community isn’t asking for much – just an education and for children’s needs to be met [instead of] a deterioration of their mental health in mainstream schools.”

Sara is also a parent of a SEND child. She said that in her opinion, the situation has worsened locally.

Though her own child has been accepted by a special school, the borough ‘said no,’ leaving her unsure where to go from there.

In Slough, the protest fetched 50 pairs of shoes – though organisers stress this ‘does not even touch the sides of the actual problem in Slough.’

A spokesperson for Slough council said: “Our SEND service is on a journey of improvement to ensure all children with SEND in Slough receive the care they need and can thrive in our borough.

“We understand the group’s frustration about where we have fallen short of this in the past, but we would like to reassure them and all parents of children and young people with SEND, our priority remains their children as we continue to improve our services.”

A spokesperson for RBWM said: “We work closely with local parents and carers, young people and partners to ensure all children and young people in the borough have access to a suitable education.

“We have significantly improved our SEND services by reducing our EHCP assessment timescales, expanding our range of local provision, enhancing our joint working between partner agencies and by strengthening our communication with parents through our Parent Carer Forum – SEND Voices.”