Parents of a five-year-old boy are locked in a council fight – after their son was denied a special school place. Katie Kenyon and Okon Okon have accused Cheshire East Council of ‘thinking of their pockets’ instead of the welfare of children.
Five-year-old Isaiah Okon has cerebral palsy, global developmental delay, and food aversion. It means he struggles with his mobility as well as eating, studying, and socialising.
Isaiah has been at Underwood West Academy, in Crewe, since 2023. But his parents say the school cannot meet the special requirements laid out in the education, health and care plan (EHCP) granted in October.
Mum-of-three Katie told StokeonTrentLive: “Isaiah was born prematurely at 32 weeks old. He had to be treated for meningitis for several weeks after his birth. We believe his conditions have come from a combination of those two things. At the moment, he has casts on both legs. He’s prone to falls and struggles to learn. His conditions have a big impact on his day-to-day life.
“We applied to get him an EHCP. It entitles him to a lot of one-to-one support which starts from the minute he gets to school. He’s supposed to have a morning meet-and-greet and then continuing one-on-one sessions throughout the day. But the school don’t have the staff to do this. So he’s left to his own devices during lunchtime and playtime.
“He regularly comes home with a full lunchbox as he’s not eaten any food. He has many accidents at school. Quite a few of them appear to go unreported as they apparently go unnoticed. I only notice once I’ve noticed he has bruises or he just tells me about them.”
Katie says Cheshire East Council has refused to grant Isaiah a specialist school place despite the ‘many recommendations’ she has received. She is now taking the local authority to a tribunal.
The 34-year-old, from Crewe, added: “The mainstream school he’s attending at the moment cannot meet his needs and they have informed the council that they cannot meet his needs. The council are saying they won’t give him a placement at a specialist school because there isn’t enough evidence of his need. This is despite the fact that we have educational psychology reports, GP consultant letters, physiotherapy reports, speech and language reports and many more that all say it’s what he needs.
“I think it’s clear what the real reason is – funding. It’s all about money. They’re just trying to delay and delay, coming up with countless excuses to put it off. I don’t think we’ll get anywhere until we prove our case at this tribunal and force their hand.”
Katie has removed Isaiah from school until the tribunal reaches its conclusion. But the worried mother says she is ‘seriously concerned’ about the impact this may have on the developing young boy.
Katie added: “I just want him to be able to thrive like any other parent would. But that is not going to happen in his current situation. He told me that he hates his life. A five-year-old boy shouldn’t be saying things like that. He has to sleep in our room because everything is just really affecting him. I just want him to be happy and healthy. But something needs to change for that to happen.
“It’s got so bad that I’ve been left with no choice but to take him out of school. I’ve taken him out on the grounds of medical and safety risks to his health. I’ve requested the absence to be authorised and for resources to be given to us so we can educate him at home for now.
“I’m not sending him back until something else is sorted and the tribunal won’t be finished until the middle of 2026 at least. That means he’s going to miss months of proper education. He’s already struggling socially and academically as it is.”
Cheshire East Council is aware of the parents’ concerns.
Councillor Laura Crane, chair of Cheshire East Council’s children and families committee, said: “While we do not comment on individual cases involving children, we want to reassure families that we take all concerns raised by parents extremely seriously. We are actively engaging with both the parents and the school to fully assess the situation and ensure that the child’s needs are being appropriately supported.”
