A pupil has told of how she was isolated at school because staff didn’t understand her mental health and additional learning needs.

Megan, a student with anxiety and autism, appealed to Wokingham Borough councillors for more mental health support in schools.

“I was at a school where they just didn’t support me at all and sort of just ignored me,” she told councillors. “They seemed to just want to isolate me from other people.

“Whenever there was a bad social interaction with another peer it would be ‘I’m going to put her in isolation, and then tell that student not to talk to her ever again’ and this was my head of year.

“In the end it led to the whole year group not wanting to talk to me. That for me was quite hard. It was quite a challenging year not just for me but for my whole family.”

She added that her current school, Waingels College, was “fantastic” because it had a dedicated staff member trained in mental health.

Megan was one of a group of young people, parents and supporters who spoke at a meeting of the council’s Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 20 June.

They described ways that special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services in the borough could improve.

Hugo said teachers lacked understanding about his hyperactivity. He said: “I need fidget toys to keep me focussed. Some of the teachers tell me off, saying because I’m not looking that I’m not listening.

“It’s getting very annoying and they sometimes ban my fidget toys.”

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One parent said her daughter Sophie, who has limited speech, hasn’t been able to get sufficient speech and language therapy.

She said: “If we had early intervention with speech and language therapy Sophie would be able to speak a lot more. Currently she only gets three a year which is insufficient in my view.”

The young people were members of the SEND Youth Forum, who had been invited to speak to the committee.

One of them, Jack, said he was worried he wouldn’t be able to get a place at Berkshire College of Agriculture. And Benedict spoke of his trouble being offered suitable independent housing.

It comes after Wokingham Borough Council was recently awarded a £6.3 million government grant to help it provide SEND services. Council auditors have listed the outcome and cost of its SEND provision as being a “high-risk” concern due to the pressures on the service.

The committee voted that the SEND Youth Forum should be invited to speak every year, and that it would provide an report on its progress each year.