Mum's despair: no Wigan school place can be found for a severely autistic four-year-old

Victoria Ordor moved north from Eastbourne last October after the breakdown of her marriage and, having gained custody of her two boys, they came to join her in December.

Finding a place in a nursery for three-year-old Joshua was no problem and Victoria was told that his autistic elder brother Delan would secure a place at Hope School in Pemberton just as soon as documents from Eastbourne had been transferred to Wigan.

But the start of the spring term came and went, the council confirmed receipt of Delan’s documents but there was no word about his schooling.

Eventually, after several phone calls Victoria was told that Hope School didn’t have any room for Delan after all, due to there having been a recent surge in intake.

The 32-year-old pharmacy assistant, who lives on Sherwood Drive, Pemberton, was asked where she would like to send him instead and she said: “Land Gate, anywhere, so long as he has a special school place,” but no-one came back to her.

After more phone calls she finally got through to the manager of Wigan Council’s SEND ( Special educational needs and disabilities) team who asked Victoria “have you considered home schooling?”

She said she hadn’t and so it was arranged for someone to come round to meet her and Delan and make assessments.

Victoria said: “The next week a lady visited but she found he was too severely autistic for one-to-one sessions.

"I got a call from the head of home tutoring who said that home education was not an option because Delan was a risk to himself and a tutor and that a special school is much better.

"But that was weeks ago. Delan was well settled and happy in his old school in Eastbourne but now it’s three months since he’s had any formal education and he’s regressing. I’m a single mum working full time so he’s being cared for by his aunt.

"I’m at my wits’ end.”

A council spokesperson said: “We are not able to comment on individual cases. Our team are working closely with this family to secure an appropriate and suitable school place.”