A father is calling for a change to the education system after seeing his son miss up to three years of school because of anxiety.

Adam Jones, 38 from Stockton, spoke of his frustration with a system where his teenage son’s needs are not met either by a mainstream or specialist school. He said: “We want the best for our child, just like any other parent. And we feel massively let down by the system.

“We’re not the only family. We’re probably just one of many that are in this situation.

“There’s a failing in the education system where there’s kids who are in the middle who have got nowhere to go.

“There needs to be a change in the education system because those people who are stuck in the middle are losing out. It’s affecting them long-term.

“You either go into specialist school or you go into mainstream school. There’s no middle ground.

“We don’t feel that we’ve been treated as an individual. We feel like we’ve been treated as a statistic or a number. We just feel like we’re getting pushed aside.”

The accountant says his son’s autism and anxiety means he cannot cope with mainstream school, but the authorities still maintain he should go there.

The dad said: “He hasn’t been to school for two-and-a-half, maybe three years now. He’s academically able. He’s a very bright child.

“He struggles with anxiety and he’s diagnosed with autism. So putting him in a school with 1,000 kids isn’t the best.

“He’s not necessarily got a learning disability, he’s got a difficulty. He couldn’t go to specialist school because he didn’t have a learning disability but he couldn’t cope with mainstream school because of his anxieties.

“He moved up to secondary school during Covid and there was no transition period for him. It’s a big change for anybody really but having autism it’s even greater.

“He had a few months and it went downhill after that. They struggled a lot to meet his needs.

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“There’d been a number of times when that support wasn’t there. Because of all the issues we’d faced, he wouldn’t go back. He’d lost trust in the school.

“He felt a bit let down by the school. We felt that what we were requesting were reasonable adjustments which they could have implemented.

“Obviously we get that the school’s got over 1,000 kids. It’s difficult to look after that plus provide that support for our child when funding’s stretched.

“We only got an education, health and care plan (EHCP) finalised last year, we’d been fighting for it for two years, to say he needs these adjustments.

“But the damage was already done. It came to a head.

“We’ve had mountains of evidence from educational psychologists, consultant psychiatrists, to say he’ll struggle in mainstream school, but they still said he’ll go to mainstream school.

“We’re going to a tribunal to challenge this. But because it’s taken so long, the schools are now full, so we can’t get a place for him in any school.

“We’ve exhausted all mainstream options. Every single one of them have said ‘we can’t meet your child’s needs’.

“He’s missed out on so much education, I’m fearful it’s going to impact him further on in life.

“It’s more than his education. It’s the social aspect of it.

“He’s a good lad, he’s got a good sense of humour, he’s very friendly but he’s missing out on all this social interaction.

“If he was given the opportunity, he’d thrive again. It’s not like he doesn’t want to be in school. He wants to learn. If he was in a more nurturing environment with smaller classroom sizes, he’d thrive.

“He knows the career path he wants to go down. But it’s just frustrating we can’t get that support for him.

“You go on social media, you see it every day, people looking for schools for their children, and they’re constantly coming back saying they’re full, which obviously shows there’s a need.

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“There needs to be something put in place for these kids because it’s damaging their lives. I’d like to know what the local authority are proposing to do about this.”

A spokesperson for Stockton Council said: “We are committed to working with the family to ensure that their child receives the required support to meet their special educational needs. It remains our view, and that of the current school, that the school can meet those needs.

“We appreciate that the parents do not agree and have exercised their right to have a tribunal hearing, which will make a binding judgement on the most suitable provision.”