A mum says she and her son are in an ‘unbearable’ situation because education officials have left them waiting for a school place since September. Carla Palmer and her 14-year-old son Thomas moved to Mountsorrel, near Loughborough, from Birmingham in August, applying for three local schools the following month - all of which said they had no places.

The pair are now in limbo, struggling to get hold of the council’s schools admissions team, with Carla revealing Thomas is depressed and sometimes says he wants to die. Carla, a part-time teacher, said: “I am absolutely at the end of my tether.

"It is so unbearable that I am going to have to seek help for my own mental health as well as my son’s from the local GP.” She also says she desperately needs to take on more hours to support herself and her son, but isn’t able to until he starts school.

READ MORE: Read the latest Leicestershire education stories

Thomas is in the process of being assessed for autism, and previously attended a pupil referral unit in Birmingham after being excluded from his last school for disruptive behaviour,. His mum says his troubles arose from his undiagnosed special educational needs.

After moving to Leicestershire for a fresh start, Carla submitted applications for Thomas at Rawlins Academy in Quorn, the Cedars Academy in Birstall, and Humphrey Perkins School in Barrow upon Soar. However, all three said they had no places.

As a result, Leicestershire County Council put Thomas’s application into a process called ‘fair access’. However, Carla said she has never received a satisfactory explanation of what ‘fair access’ is.

She said: “I have called many, many times, emailed time after time to try to get responses to questions and updates. Every time I called I was waiting on the phone for over 45 minutes and eventually had to hang up.”

When she did manage to speak to a manager - after holding for 50 minutes - she says she was given ‘mixed and contradictory’ information. She fears for Thomas’s future if he isn’t at school soon.

She said: “He is a year 10 student so will have so much catching up to do. I’m genuinely worried whether he will be in a school to be able to take his GCSEs, and if he can't this will have an even more devastating effect on him. I am desperate, at my wits end.”

Ed Argar, MP for Charnwood
Carla has enlisted the help of her MP, Ed Argar

In the meantime, the family will continue to try home-schooling, but Carla says it’s difficult as Thomas needs GCSE specialist teachers who understand his needs. During the day, he also has chores to help him maintain a routine, but Carla says, “Every so often he’ll become very depressed, lose motivation for anything at all and spend time simply sleeping in bed.

"It is difficult to help him stay positive and he often says he wants to die.” Thomas wants to make new friends, but Carla said: “I’ve tried enrolling him in clubs he’s interested in but, to add to the misery, they’re all full.”

She reached out to Charnwood MP Edward Argar, whose team contacted the council, which confirmed Thomas’s application was in the ‘fair access’ process. The phone number on the council’s response rings out or fails to connect.

Carla added: “What I would like the 'powers that be' in education to understand is that their awful systems are messing around with people's lives. They are significantly damaging my child, both in terms of his life-chances after school and his mental health to the point of him having suicidal thoughts. They are also illegally denying him his right to education.”

LeicestershireLive asked the council to explain the fair access process, as well as to address Thomas’s situation and why it’s been so difficult for Carla to speak to the school admissions team. A spokesperson responded: “We cannot comment on the details of individual cases, however, we can confirm we are working hard to secure school places for all children and young people who need them.”

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