Mum hits out at school for 'neglecting' her 7-year-old son's learning 'can't read, write or count'

A mum claims her son's former school has neglected him as he cannot read, write or count.

Saria Ullah said she was clueless about how little her boy had learnt until she started homeschooling him during lockdown.

She says she soon discovered her seven-year-old could barely even write his own name, BirminghamLive reports.

The mum has now slammed Selly Oak St Mary's Church of England Primary School, in Birmingham, accusing it of failing to deal with her son's special educational needs.

But the school insists it supported the family to ensure the needs of their child were met.

A spokesman said that despite this support - and a number of meetings with the family - the boy's parents decided to move him to another school.

Saria told BirminghamLive : "He can barely even spell his name or the colour red. He should be reading chapter books but now he can't do any of that."

His special educational needs affect his behaviour, ability to socialise, academic development and concentration levels.

Saria believed the school’s SENCo department would oversee the support and progress of her son’s additional assistance as well as a teaching assistant (TA) working closely with him as mentioned on the school’s website.

Despite the school providing SEND support, Saria claims she only met with the schools SENco department once in the three years her son was attending the school.

She said: "I met the SENco once in reception, September 2018, and was told my son has special educational needs."

Saria claims she was promised her son would receive dedicated school work with targets set for him to achieve, however, she believes he didn't receive this support.

She claims the school failed to communicate serious concern about her son's academic progress and believed he was receiving adequate support.

She said: "[At] parents evenings, I was told, everything was fine. Yes, he's behind. Yes, he's not progressing as well as you should be, but I was never told that things are as serious as they are. The word dyslexia was never mentioned, ADHD, autism sensory issues, none of this was ever mentioned."

Saria said she then became aware of her seven-year-old child crying in the classroom as he struggled with his work.

She said she continuously contacted the school, her GP, Birmingham City Council, child services and OFSTED, but there was no improvement to her son’s support.

Saria added she wishes there was more support for parents as she feels 'like a failure of a mother sometimes'.

“I know a lot of parents will say ‘Where were you? why didn't you support him?’," she said

"I admit, maybe I'm partly to blame but if the school are telling me ‘everything's fine. ‘Everything's great, it's an education establishment, why would I have a reason to doubt them”.