Our experience includes one private school, one state primary school, a state high school and a special school. While the attitudes of the two primary schools left much to be desired the high school could not have tried harder to fit our son in but he cannot survive in that environment.

No amount of philosophising as to how people should treat other people will change the fundamental nature of school children or the dynamics of a school.

My childhood experience taught me that children ruthlessly enforce conformity. My experience as a parent confirms that nothing has changed. I can only surmise that those who believe placing all disabled children (whether their disability is physical, intellectual, emotional or social)will miraculously transform neurotypical children and teachers into caring, tolerant people had a totally different school experience and didn’t observe what was happening around them.

Life, unfortunately, is not what your teacher’s college lecturers told you it should be.

To dump our children into the mainstream is to expose them to bullying by other pupils; noisy, uncomfortable, overcrowded classrooms; incompetent teachers and the prejudice of other parents.

If the ideal of every child being entitled to an education is to have any meaning in the real world we must provide places for those who cannot achieve their potential in the mainstream.