Kelly says she has applied to 30 schools, covering everywhere from Broadstairs to Swanley, but has been refused a place at every one due to her son's complex needs.

Finding a secondary school place for your child can be difficult at the best of times, but one desperate mum does not know where to turn after her autistic son was refused entry from 30 secondary schools - all through no fault of his own.

In just four weeks time 10-year-old Harley, is due to leave his primary school in Gillingham but still has no secondary school place confirmed. Kelly Adams, from Rainham, Kent, has worked with his council special educational needs (SEN) officer to send out his Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) to special needs schools but they have all said they cannot meet his complex needs.

The single mum is scared that the good work Harley's current school has done will be reversed if he spends too much time out of an educational setting while she fights to find him a new school. Harley is autistic, non-verbal and can only learn in very small time spans due to his mental capacity - but Kelly says he prefers a larger school setting rather than a small independent school. She does not know what will happen in September and is calling on leaders at his primary school, Danecourt School, to consider offering education for older children.

She said: "Every year they struggle to find suitable schools to place their pupils. If they had their own secondary school it would not be an issue. If the council could stop building houses and build a Danecourt Secondary school the problem would be solved."

However, she has praised the school for providing "an amazing and supportive environment" for Harley, where she says he has flourished. She added: "They have worked wonders with him. I have watched him go from this ball of craziness to just seeing him thrive."

While he waits for a suitable school Kelly has been told she may have to keep Harley at home and "go down the tutor route" but she worries he will not cope and "he will regress". She said: "He wants to go to school. It's part of his routine. He loves seeing the other children. He likes to play on the field and with the water in between his learning. It's his happy place. I'm mum. He would not want to blur the lines between school and home and learn with me. He can't be expected to stay at home. He will be too restricted."

With so many schools refusing to take him she feels the only option would be to try to raise funds to build additional facilities at his current school as many other special needs schools cater for their pupils until they are 18-years-old.

She added: "I'd love to set up a GoFundMe to raise money to build a secondary school but obviously you would need to find a site and get permission. That isn't going to happen very quickly and I don't even know how that would work.

"They need to stop giving the land to housing developers and build another special needs school."

A spokesman for Medway council said it continues to work to ensure there are sufficient places with the "right provision for our children and young people"

"We are continuously developing further provision to meet the growing needs and where necessary commissioning independent providers," they added.