CHILDREN with special needs in Oxfordshire are being failed by the education system, according to one mother.

The criticism comes as figures uncovered by the Oxford Mail showed the county’s special needs pupils had among the poorest results in England.

But Oxfordshire County Council last night defended its provision, saying the league tables were worthless.

National tables show that in Oxfordshire, results achieved by children with special educational needs (SEN) are significantly lower than the national average at ages seven, 11 and 16.

The council said it was impossible to compare areas, because each set its own criteria for identifying special needs.

School inspectors believe hundreds of thousands of children are being wrongly assessed under the SEN system.

Sophie Evans, 36, from Chipping Norton, said she had been forced to move her son to a private school. Seven-year-old Finlay has conditions including severe dyslexia and dyspraxia.

The council said everything possible had been done to support him at Great Rollright School and St Mary’s School in Chipping Norton.

Mrs Evans believes her son’s conditions are so severe that he should have been given a legally-binding statement of special educational needs, detailing the extra support he should get.

Instead he was put on the School Action Plus programme, for pupils with less complex needs. But Mrs Evans said health and education officials had failed to communicate about Finlay’s needs.

She added: “If the education people listened properly to what the doctors were saying, I think a lot of money would be saved. Every single term, I had to go in and fight for support for Finlay.”

Last December, her father used money from an inheritance to pay for his grandson to attend Windrush Valley School, in Ascott-under-Wychwood, at a cost of £500 a month.

Mrs Evans claimed he had made more progress in one term there than in several years at county council schools.

She said: “I fear there are lots of children like Finlay whose needs are not being recognised properly.”

Council spokesman Louise Mendonca said: “The schools did all within their powers, given that Finlay was judged not to require a statement. He was making progress at St Mary’s and the school, working with the council and four external agencies, responded to and adjusted support as appropriate.”

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is Mrs Evans’s MP, has vowed to write to County Hall about her case.

He said: “Of course, no-one should feel that they have to pay for private schooling in order that their child should receive quality SEN support.”

National tables show that in Oxfordshire, between 14 per cent and 18 per cent fewer children on School Action Plus reach the expected attainment levels than the national average. Elsewhere results are higher, the council claims, because children with less complex needs are put on the programme.

A new Government policy paper proposes reducing the number of pupils identified as having special needs, but giving more support to those who are.