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Mother's fight for autistic sons
A FURIOUS mother says her two autistic sons have been denied an education after being turned down for places at special-needs schools.
Julie Kennedy says her children's needs are too complex for mainstream schools and need specialist help.
But education chiefs have turned down both Mark, 13, and Jack, eight, for places at two different special schools in Portsmouth.
Mrs Kennedy, of Peterborough Road, Wymering, said: 'They have been deemed not severe enough to go to special-needs schools but cannot cope with mainstream.
'With every day that passes they are missing out on vital education. It has been a long battle and still no-one is listening to me.
Two years ago Mark dropped out of Priory School, Southsea, as his medical condition meant he could not cope with lessons in mainstream school.
When an application for Mark to attend the special-needs Redwood Park school in Cosham failed, he was offered a place at the Sevenoaks Centre – usually for excluded pupils.
Mark now receives just six hours of schooling a week at the centre.
Younger son Jack, who attends Craneswater Junior School, Southsea, has also been turned down by an independent panel for a place at Cliffdale School in North End.
Mrs Kennedy says from September she will keep her two sons at home rather than send them to schools which, she believes, do not benefit their education.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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