A headteacher has highlighted the limited support available for pupils with mental health issues after a Year 6 pupil with autism who was self-harming had to wait seven months for support - only for his family to be told it was more than 200 miles away.  

Tom Milson, headteacher of Eagle House special school in Surrey, said the Year 6 boy had suffered “a massive decline” in his mental health and was trying to hit or bang his head as well as trying to hit adults helping him.

The specialist CAMHS (children and adolescent mental health services) support eventually offered was in Manchester - which meant three staff members, including teaching assistants and a teacher, had to set off on a six-hour drive after school.

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Mr Milson said: “It was after midnight by the time they had settled him into his new residential placement, and staff there were surprised how the school had managed to support him for so long.

“This story is not uncommon and is due to the limited support and resources for more complex provisions.”

Mr Milson highlighted the case at a discussion event organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Psychology at the House of Commons, where he said the correct support needed to be provided at the moment pupils need it, but that this depended partly on local authority area.  

Chair of the group, SNP’s Lisa Cameron MP, told the gathering that the government was “failing children with autism” because they were having to wait up to two years for the right support to become available and that this was “not good enough” at a time when even a few months can present huge changes in a child’s development.

Speaking to Tes about the case of the Year 6 pupil, she said: “It’s shocking but it’s very common from my experience. You wait so long and then there aren’t enough resources.

“It’s a postcode lottery, but we don’t even know where the postcode is.”

She also told Tes of a teenager in her constituency (East Kilbride) who was being bullied online but only received help when she started to self-harm.

The meeting discussed issues including that all teachers should receive mental health training as part of their initial teacher training, and will refer evidence to the minister for mental health.

The group is calling on Ofsted to look at the level of mental health support in schools when carrying out inspections.