A Wiltshire mother of two says she’s prepared to stop her daughter from having to go to Melksham Oak Community School in September.

Lisa Benham, 33, is battling a Wiltshire Council decision to send her eldest daughter Adara to Melksham Oak despite her special education needs.

Adara is a Year 6 pupil at Bowerhill Primary School but has Autism, ADHD and suffers from epilepsy.

Miss Benham, of Magister Road, Bowerhill, said: “They are just not listening. We have reports from school, educational psychologists and the children’s mental health team and the council are going against all advice.

“They are trying to place my daughter that can’t spell her name, tell the time or understand the days of the week into a mainstream secondary school.

“Adara has Autism, ADHD and epilepsy and works mostly at a Year 1 level. She doesn’t have a single friend. It is said her mental age is around five years old which would make her incredibly vulnerable.

“I have had two meetings with Melksham Oak and both times they have said they would struggle to keep her safe and they don’t think they could support her. Yet still the council ignore us all and push forward ignoring all appeals.

“I’m prepared to keep Adara off school in September if she has to go to Melksham Oak.”

Miss Benham, who is a civil servant, also has a younger daughter Poppy, six, from a previous relationship. She and her partner Benjamin Butcher, 28, are expecting a third child in October.

Miss Benham says she's waiting for a Wiltshire Council response to her request for formal mediation, following the two meetings. She had appealed the council's initial decision.

"At the end of the meeting in March, I had an email from Wiltshire Council saying there had been no change in the decision to name the mainstream secondary school in Adara's Education Health Care Plan.

"But there is recognition that she does have significant special educational needs and/or disability. They say an alternative outcome is therefore still being discussed.

"If she does have to go to Melksham Oak, she will need a full-time teaching assistant one-to-one. Adara spends about 90 per cent of her time at Bowerhill outside the classroom.

"If she goes to Melksham Oak she will be singled out and will be highly vulnerable. I'm so scared of what might happen to her.

"Adara is very frail. She only weighs three stone six pound. She is tiny. She needs to be in a special educational needs setting where they can look after her."

Miss Benham says she is prepared to involve the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services team, the NHS services that assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties, to support her case.

She would prefer that Adara should go to a special education needs school, such as Rowdeford in Devizes or St Nicholas in Chippenham, where she can be supported.

Helean Hughes, director of education and skills at Wiltshire Council, said: “We are in close contact with Miss Benham concerning the most appropriate placement for her daughter, Adara.

“We hope to resolve matters through discussions with Miss Benham and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS), an independent SEN advocacy service, in the coming weeks.”