A determined mum has won her seven-year battle to get her teen son wrongly labelled a 'naughty boy' a spot at a specialist school.
Roxy Bond worked tirelessly to convince Derbyshire County Council that William, 13, needed additional support.
She reluctantly hounded the authority since 2014 and weeks before a crunch tribunal she has finally claimed a big victory, Derbyshire Live reports.
The boy has been diagnosed with ADHD and has some communication issues - but the family had previously been told he was misbehaving. The parent battled for William to be taken out of a mainstream school since he was six.
The council would not make this change but ahead of a formal special education needs and disabilities tribunal - at great cost of time and money to the taxpayer and the Bond family - she won her fight.
The teen now has spot at Westbourne School, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, transferring from Swanwick Hall.
The mum of three told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I now wake up every day with a smile on my face.
“William had been finding it really hard at school and had not been wanting to go in every day and had lots of behaviour issues in school and at home and was feeling depressed.
“Now he is almost like a different child, his mindset is different, he is happy, he is laughey, he is smiley and he gets up in the morning and wants to go to school again.”
Mrs Bond previously told the LDRS that William had been labelled the “naughty boy” throughout school due to his misunderstood behavioural issues and felt the county council had “failed” him.
She said: “I am going to be honest, it has only this week begun to sink in that the battle is over. My brain had been in that fight mode with the council, but this feels incredible.
“It has helped my anxiety, it has helped with home-life and it is like a cloud has been lifted from our family home.
“It is like we have won the lottery, it is that much of a relief and it feels like that pressure has gone - I love it.
“I am sad for Will and I am also sad for those other children who are going to be going through the same and other families that are now fighting the same fight that we fought - through no fault of their own.
“I know it is all to do with funding but I just feel that if one child can access support, why can’t all children that need it? That equal access to opportunity.”
A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: "Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities is one of our most complex and sensitive areas of work. Each child’s case is unique and requires careful consideration which is why it can take time to reach an agreement in each individual case between parents or carers, the school and the council.
"Where a family chooses to go to the SEND Tribunal we will always work with them to reach agreement, with the child’s educational needs at the centre of everything.
"The council currently has 74 active tribunal cases and in each case we work with the family to resolve these wherever possible. Often we reach an agreement with the family during the tribunal process."
Roxy’s story echoes those raised by many other parents in the county who have also spoken to the LDRS over the past few years, with further concerns highlighted in council watchdog investigations.
Earlier this year, the council apologised and branded its own support of a child with special educational needs a “failure” and suspected there may be other children it has also failed.
