‘All they need is attention and care’

Black Child Agenda founder says that cultural differences can lead to misunderstanding between schools and families

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She said: “It could also be that something has happened at home, a lot of the time you could have bereavement in the family, there could be mental health at home going on, there are a lot of underlying reasons why children are being diagnosed or misdiagnosed.

“Sometimes all they need is a bit of attention and care, so that they can overcome that but they are not given that they are just labelled as disruptive, badly behaved or the parents are blamed and social services is the number one speed dial for a lot of schools.”

Ms Phoenix, who has extensive experience helping Black parents, said the problem is affecting both children of African and Caribbean backgrounds.

“There is a steep rise in children of African heritage also being painted with the same brush,” she said.

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She said: “You have got new families that are coming from Africa in particular, and their children are first generation born here, so there is a massive cultural difference in how things are being presented through the children whilst in school, so it is easier sometimes to label them because schools get a lot of money for children that have a SEND or EHC plan.

“There are many children who need additional support, sometimes English is not their first language and they are not accessing the support or parents turn it down through fear of that label of their child being different – most parents see shame in that.”

Ms Phoenix said there is no harm in parents getting their children checked if they are struggling from a “behavioural or academic perspective”.

She said: “At least they know what is going on and know how best they can support them and ensure the school can do the same thing.”

Ms Phoenix wants a national investigation to take place to look at how Black children are treated within the British edu cation system from primary to university level.

She said: “We don’t want a report, we want a proper and thorough investigation not with just recommendations but also law changes on how our children are being treated, la belled and diagnosed.”

All maintained mainstream schools and mainstream acad emy schools (including free schools) must have a qualified teacher, or the head teacher, designated as the Special Edu cational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO).

The DfE says discrimination has no place in schools and if a school has discriminated against a pupil on the grounds of their disability, a claim can be lodged with the free SEND Tribunal.

The DfE encourages parents and carers to contact the SEND school co-ordinator or if you think your child may have special educational needs.

ONE-ON-ONE:

Parents say it has been easier to keep their children at home than send them to school or nursery (photo: Monstera)