Department for Education data for 2015/16 showed Buckinghamshire as one of the highest permanently excluding authorities in England.

Exclusions across primary and secondary schools in Bucks have doubled over the last few years.

National statistics show that half the children excluded has a recognised mental health need. They are four times more likely to be from the poorest families, three times more likely to be interacting with social services and ten times more likely to have a mental health problem.

Bucks County Council is tinkering with the edges of the problem.  A core problem lies in poor funding and lack of support for early intervention.    One example is in speech and language therapy.

They can’t recruit enough therapists.  My youngest has severe language disorder,  but because they didn’t have a therapist for the first 5/6 months of the school year, last year he went without. His therapist left over the summer and we haven’t heard anything about a replacement

Cuts in funding and shortage of specialist staff leave schools unable to cope.

My son has ASD and we are currently waiting for him to see an educational psychologist.

Buckinghamshire is one of the lowest-funding education authorities in the country.

Schools face an average reduction in their budgets of 8-10% by 2020.  This is  the biggest real-terms cut in education spending in a generation.

No child should be left behind.  We need a commitment to effective funding and support for our children with educational needs.  This should be a political priority. Tory cuts are harming your children.