A BURNHAM mother has told of her worries for her young son's future because of the lack of special school provision within Maldon district.

Maldon is one of only three of the 12 districts in the Essex county area to be entirely without a special school or special education provision. Special schools or specialist provision with mainstream schools offer education for children who would not be able to progress on the usual course of GCSE study.

Tara Strydom, whose son is currently in Year 3 at St Mary's C of E Primary School in Burnham-on-Crouch, has applied for a dual placement for him in his remaining time before secondary school, when he will need to transfer to a special school as he has more than moderate learning difficulties.

Tara hoped that this would give him the chance to adjust to leaving his current friends behind and moving to a new school environment, as he has only recently started to cope with a full school day. Handling the lengthy commute every day that would be created by him being placed full-time at a special school so far away would also prove a tough option now.

However, even the nearest special schools at Benfleet and Chelmsford are currently unable to provide the dual placement due to capacity.

Tara argues that provision should be made closer to home.

She said: "I don't want my son to grow up to be a stranger in his own home town. Why is it not unfair for special needs children to have to travel so far when it is considered so for able-bodied children? He should be able to grow up with his friends in the place where he lives.

"The children at St Mary's who my son has made friends with don't need to be educated about accepting him or understanding his needs. He's one of them and it's a natural process. My son isn't disruptive at all and is a part of the school community."

Essex County Council has confirmed that it is now looking into the need for specialist provision in the whole of the Maldon district area – with the intention of producing a strategy to deal with the issue by the autumn term this year.

An Essex County Council spokesperson said: "There are currently 124 pupils living in Maldon district who attend a special school. We are unable to produce a separate figure for the Dengie.

''Essex County Council has a statutory responsibility to ensure a school place for all eligible children and young people. We are currently reviewing the capacity of the Essex special schools and specially resourced provisions in mainstream schools and looking at where we may need to develop new provision.

"The review is informed by a forecasting tool which is enabling us to have a better understanding of where future growth in the SEND population is likely.

"Once the review is complete, we will develop a sufficiency strategy setting out our capital building plans for SEND provision across Essex.

"The districts of Essex which do not have a special school or specialist provision in mainstream schools will be a particular focus which will ensure that Maldon and the Dengie are neither ignored or forgotten; a key element of our vision for SEND in Essex is to ensure, as far as possible, that children and young people are educated as close to their community as possible."

"We aim to complete the work on the sufficiency strategy over the course of the summer term with the intention to publish it early in the autumn term 2021."