"I cried when I read the letter to parents from Merthyr Tydfil's Director of Education."
Parents felt rage, hurt, and disappointment when they opened a letter regarding ALN education in Merthyr Tydfil.
Hello and welcome to The Valleys Lead.
This week, we heard from four parents in Merthyr Tydfil about their reactions to a letter from Merthyr Tydfil’s Director of Education, Sue Walker, regarding ALN education. They question the meaning behind the letter, explain their struggles to be heard while advocating for their children, and question funding decisions when it comes to ALN education.
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The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys.)
Merthyr Tydfil’s Reform UK Councillor, Andrew Barry, has been censured after sending an “intimidating” email to a member of council staff and making a complaint against them with no merit. The decision followed from a standards committee hearing this week. The breaches related to parts of the code of the conduct which relate to respect and consideration for others, not using bullying behaviour or harassing any person and not making vexatious, malicious or frivolous complaints against other members or anyone who works for, or on behalf of, the authority. Barry said he didn’t think he had done anything wrong, that we was simply a straight talker and always had been, and was entitled to ask for and be given information.
Dawn Boden, the Minister for Children and Social Care, hand-delivered the first baby bundle, a Welsh Government-funded initiative to support new parents and their babies. The box includes newborn clothing, maternity pads, blankets, bibs, muslin cloths, a thermometer, a bilingual book, and a playmat. Eligible families register through their midwives and are delivered between 32 and 34 weeks of pregnancy. The Bevan Foundation has said it would like the baby bundles offered to at least all families receiving Universal Credit (rather than only those in Flying start areas).
Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Lindsay Whittle says more and more NHS dental patients are contacting him worried about their dentists moving to private care only. It comes in the wake of a Freedom of Information response from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board last month that revealed more than 100 people in the Caerphilly area were on a NHS dental waiting list. The longest patient had been waiting since May, 2025. He said in a press release: “The situation in Caerphilly is being replicated across Wales and I am deeply concerned by the scale of this problem. Unfortunately I cannot offer a solution that can change and reverse the situation quickly. I’m not able to reverse any decision of a private dental practice to switch to all private and remove NHS patients. Problems with NHS dental provision and capacity have been building for many years. Reforming dentistry is a top priority for Plaid Cymru and I will raise these real concerns.”
“I cried when I read the letter to parents from Merthyr Tydfil’s Director of Education.”
Two weeks ago, parents in Merthyr Tydfil were sent a letter from Sue Walker, Merthyr’s Director of Education, regarding the education of children with additional learning needs (ALN).
In it, Walker wrote that “all children and young people are expected to follow the same school rules and expectations, including those with ALN,” and that if parents are concerned about behaviour expectations, rewards, consequences, and day-to-day decisions about pupils, they should directly contact the school.
“You can of course request a move to another school if you feel it may better meet your child’s needs, but it is helpful to keep in mind that all maintained schools have similar expectations and standards,” she added.
Immediately, parents of in Merthyr with ALN children started contacting The Valleys Lead to discuss the impact of the letter.
“My first feeling was rage,” Ashley Llewellyn, a 30-year-old dad to his eight-year-old autistic son, told The Valleys Lead. “It felt like another message aimed at shutting parents up, not supporting children. It came across as a telling off, not a conversation or reflection. Not accountability. Just a reminder that we should ‘behave’ while are kids are the ones being failed. The letter felt like it came from a place of frustration with parents instead of concern for children. If anyone wonders why parents, like me, are angry, it’s because we’re watching our kids struggle while being told to lower our expectations, and accept delays, excuses, and less.”
Ashley said he has spent his life “fighting for things that should already exist” for his son – “basic understanding, basic adjustments, and basic support.”
“I learned very quickly that if you don’t push, chase, email, phone and fight, nothing happens,” he said. “We’re expected to be grateful for scraps. If we ask for anymore, we’re treated as unreasonable.”
Janet, whose name has been changed, cried when she read the letter from Walker. Janet, who lives in Merthyr with her two daughters ages 12 and 15, fought years for their autism diagnoses.
“The schools just kept putting their behaviours down to being naughty prior to the diagnoses,” the 45-year-old mum told The Valleys Lead.
Once her girls were finally diagnosed and given statement of education plans, Janet was back and forth to the school often challenging them to follow the plan that had been agreed.
“When your child is missing school, overly stressed about going to school, and having meltdowns, and you’re getting nowhere with the school, you go to the Director of Education, and she says she’s going to look into it – going to sort it,” Janet said. “And then you get a statement like this from her, and suddenly, you realise you’re fighting a losing battle. Nothing gets done and nothing changes.”
Katie Bourne, whose seven-year-old son has been diagnosed with ADHD and autism, was “upset and disappointed” when she first read the letter.
“I would also have expected schools to challenge or push back if they felt that correspondence from the Local Authority was likely to cause distress to parents and carers of children with ALN,” the 39-year-old Merthyr mother told The Valleys Lead. “Schools see first-hand the daily challenges families face and the prejudice some children experience. I feel this situation has created a rift between parents and schools that did not exist prior to the letter being sent.”
Although Katie has had a mostly positive experience of mainstream schooling for her son, she supports parents through a local ALN support group who haven’t had the same positive experience.
“I felt that we were moving towards becoming a more inclusive society, and the message within the letter felt discriminatory towards children with additional learning needs,” Katie said.
One aspect of the letter that many parents in Merthyr have found fault with is where Sue Walker wrote that all children, no matter if they have ALN or not, are expected to follow the same school rules and expectations.
Several parents told The Valleys Lead that their children have different needs and shouldn’t be expected to meet the same standards in the same way as children who are neurotypical.
“Equality doesn’t mean giving every child the same thing,” said Ashley. “Equality means giving every child what they need to achieve the same.”
The parents who got in touch with The Valleys Lead said they were already tired from the daily fight for their ALN children, and the letter from Walker just felt like “another thing” they had to face.
“Parents of ALN children have spent years being gaslit by agencies, begging to be heard, to be validated, and pleading for assistance for the most precious thing in their lives,” Rhiannon, a 38-year-old Merthyr mum to a daughter with ALN, who asked for only her first name to be used, told The Valleys Lead. “They’re often sleep-deprived and have been forced into a life of advocacy, all the while grieving the life they thought they’d have from the minute their child was born.”
None of the parents spoken to blamed teachers and the unsung heroes that are teaching assistants.
“Let’s make this perfectly clear - for the most part, the teachers looking after our children and the teaching assistants, are trying their very best,” Rhiannon said. “They wake up every day, leave their own children in the care of others to prioritise ours, for a role that is becoming demonized by media, politics and the ignorant.”
Ashley echoed this: “It isn’t the fault of the people in the classroom trying to hold everything together with no support and no backup.”
Rather than blaming teachers, parents have said the primary responsibly lies with higher powers like the council and education department.
“The truth is the funding feels almost non-existent, and families are constantly made to feel like we’re asking for the world when we’re just asking for what’s legally and morally right,” Ashley said. “And what makes it worse is the priorities. We’re being told there’s no money, no resources, no support available and yet we see energy, attention and ‘celebrations’ given to completely irrelevant things, like awarding a local dog celebrity.”
Ashley’s question about where ALN funding goes is a valid one.
The Welsh Government’s budgeted expenditure per pupil on SEN/ALN provision for 2025-26, showed that Merthyr has the highest money of money per SEN/ALN child in Wales (£2,258 per child), but Merthyr delegates the smallest proportion of their SEN/ALN budget to their schools (49%). The question begged is where is the ‘non-delegated’ expenditure going?
In response to the backlash caused by Sue Walker’s initial letter, a week later, she sent out another letter apologising for “the distress and upset” caused.
“The apology is good, but not enough,” said Janet. “We need exact actions, who is responsible for these, and when they’ll happen by.”
Ashley said that while he appreciates that the second letter acknowledged the distress caused – “and that matters” – it was never just a wording issue.
“The original message exposed a deeper issue: a system that often treats parental advocacy as a problem,” he said. We don’t challenge schools for our convenience, but because our children rely on us to speak when they can’t. Being told, even indirectly, that this advocacy places “strain” on schools is not just hurtful it’s dismissive of the reality families face. Apologies are a starting point not a solution. What parents need now is action, transparency, and proof that our voices are being heard before harm is done, not acknowledged after the fact.”
Janet said the following would “be amazing”: families being invited to talk with the council to help shape policies, a clear plan for how to raise concerns and when they will be addressed, and a checklist on how adjustments for children will be chosen, recorded, and checked.
Most of the solutions, according to Katie, need funding: “There needs to be increased funding and greater availability of one-to-one support within mainstream schools to ensure children’s needs are met effectively,” she said.
Although many parents of ALN children in Merthyr feel their children’s needs aren’t being met effectively, the provisions from people “stepping in to fill the void left by the council” has been overwhelming.
“The people of Merthyr really have come together during this frustrating time,” Ashley concluded. “One of the biggest reasons families are coping at all is because of Spectrum Support Hub a Merthyr-based, self-funded charity supporting neurodiverse children and their families. It was created just over a year ago and in that short time it’s already helped so many people.”
The Valleys Lead approached Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council for comment and they directed us to the following two links in response.
The first is a statement from Sue Walker, director of education at Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, where she apologises for the ‘distress and upset’ caused by her letter.
The second is a statement from Cllr Brent Carter, leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, where he says that he acknowledges that ‘the tone and timing of this communication has unfortunately caused some upset among families.”