A mum says she is "absolutely livid" as she continues to fight to get her twin daughters into a specialist school.

Samantha Grafton, 33, has already spent four years trying to get her girls into a school that caters for their autism and ADHD. She claims there have been bullying among the horrific issues affecting the two seven-year-old girls at their current school. And she is also concerned about their development in mainstream education, fearing they will enter secondary school not knowing much more than a two-year-old.

Nottinghamshire County Council told Ms Grafton, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, in August that, after initially refusing to give out an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for her daughters, Maya and Esmee, the authority had decided one would be issued.

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An EHCP is crucial for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and it describes the support they need up to the age of 25. Parents and carers can request that a particular school or college be named in this plan, while EHCPs should also specify the alternative education provision a child needs to receive if they cannot go back to school.

Ms Grafton had a meeting on September 30 to discuss that EHCP and was so infuriated by its contents that she is now preparing to launch an appeal against it, which could take 18 months to resolve. The mum says the EHCP simply says her daughters have autism without going into any tailored support they need and, in the move that has enraged her most, the plan says the twins should stay at their current mainstream school.

The decision comes despite Ms Grafton being asked by the council in August to outline her preferences in terms of specialist schools. The mum said: "I was absolutely livid. It just means another 18 months where I'm fighting for the girls to get into a specialist school. The EHCP that they have done, they may as well have used it as toilet roll.

"I was ready to go back to work after all this, because the fight takes everything out of you and takes so much time, but now I'll be fighting this again." The system in Nottinghamshire designed for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) was found to have "widespread failings" following an Ofsted inspection in 2023.

Nottinghamshire County Council, which delivers SEND services in partnership with other agencies, says improvements have been made since Ofsted's visit, reported NottinghamshireLive.

The system in Nottinghamshire is set to be subject to a full Ofsted reinspection in the summer of 2026 and the county council says recent improvements have included a much higher percentage of EHCPs being delivered in time and the recruitment of extra specialists.

Yet the system was the subject of a critical petition handed to the county council in December 2024, which was signed by more than 1,000 families, some of whom said their children were being "left to rot". Issues at Maya and Esmee's current school concerned Ms Grafton so much that she briefly home-schooled them for a period in 2024.

They eventually had to go back into mainstream education after the county council threatened her with a fine that would have reportedly amounted to £104,000 across the year. Ms Grafton believes the county council only changed its mind on issuing an EHCP to avoid a costly tribunal that was set to begin this month.

The mum added: "I told my girls that, by the 30th, I would be able to get them into a different school and now I feel I've let them both down."

Nottinghamshire County Council has previously said: "The council aims to ensure the right support is in place for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities, to best support their learning whether or not there is an education, health and care plan in place. We continuously work with parents, carers and professionals to assess and review young people's needs."

The Mirror has contacted Nottinghamshire County Council for comment.