‘I was a world champion athlete as a teenager, but I wasn’t allowed to do GCSE PE’

At the age of 15, Siobhan Fitzpatrick was representing her country in her sport and was on her way to becoming a medal-winning athlete. However, this was still not enough to obtain a Physical Education qualification.

Paralympic athlete told Independent: “I couldn’t access classes at school during physical education.

“If I take myself back to being 11 years old and being told that sports couldn’t be for me in the mainstream world… it’s really hard to accept that because I had to do sports in a different way.”

Instead of finding his gift for wheelchair basketball through school, it would be a local sports club that would unleash his passion and change his life.

Siobhan first took up the sport in 2010 and has quickly built an extensive junior career; This career saw her co-captain the under-25 women’s team to back-to-back victories.

He represented England at the World Championships in Hamburg in 2018 and his team took home the silver medal. A few years later, in 2021, Siobhan represented her country again at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Siobhan, now 28, teaches inclusive physical education in both specialist and mainstream schools across the UK when she is not representing her country. These are sessions designed to engage all students, whatever their needs, and can be adapted into tailored versions of existing lessons.

“I couldn’t do GCSE PE because I couldn’t do four sports,” he explained. “I was representing my country at 15 and I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t because my school didn’t want me to do it, it was because the curriculum didn’t allow me to do it.”

Siobhan couldn’t play any sports other than wheelchair basketball, which meant she wasn’t allowed to do GCSE PE while at school because she had to be able to do four sports. However, since 2018, qualifying students have been assessed in three events and there is now a wider range of options and more accessible sports in the curriculum, such as powerchair football and table cricket.

Last year the government announced £300,000 in funding for the Inclusion 2028 programme, designed to deliver more inclusive PE sessions across the UK.

“The government seems to be really investing in making mainstream schools more inclusive,” Siobhan said. “My entire secondary school experience was characterized by feeling isolated and left out, so I’m really passionate about this and want the government to get this right.”

But Siobhan explained that these lessons are still uncommon, meaning many disabled children are prevented from achieving nearly their full potential.

“I feel like it’s a constant struggle for a child who has additional needs and is already struggling to get that support in the mainstream setting,” she added.

In February the government announced major reform proposals for the special educational needs and disability (Resume) service, which are currently subject to open consultation.

Children who need additional support at nursery, school or college can currently access help through the Send system by contacting their parents through their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Parents have long called for changes to the system, which has been criticized for being inconsistent and difficult to navigate, but spending on Send Kids has also ballooned in recent years. Between 2015 and 2025 the number of EHCPs increased by 166 per cent, leading to the government deleting 90 per cent of councils’ Send gaps.

Siobhan only had an ECHP for part of her time at school, partly because her cerebral palsy did not affect her educational attainment in other subjects and so she was unaware that she would benefit from extra support. But, among other things, providing financing can provide more inclusive PE support.

Beyond improving this provision, the Paralympic athlete believes a change in culture is needed to improve educational environments for people with disabilities.

He added: “I hear people sometimes feel uncomfortable around disabled people and they are so worried about making people uncomfortable or saying the wrong thing that they look down on them and don’t engage at all. “I’ve even seen this in schools, where teachers keep disabled people ‘out of their way’ because they’re worried about other non-disabled children bullying them.

“I know what it feels like to be isolated; I don’t want other children with disabilities to feel the way I did at school.”

Sense policy advisor Amelia Canning said: “Families we support tell us the Send system is under-resourced, hostile and too difficult to manage – this needs to change.

“The government is currently consulting on once-in-a-generation reforms to fix the Send system. If done right, these reforms have huge potential to help disabled children have a better experience at school than Siobhan had growing up.”

“It is vital that the government seizes this opportunity to correct the broken situation and listen to families with disabilities about the problems that exist in the system. Sense has created a tool to help families share their experiences and respond to government consultation.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “Our delivery reforms ensure children get the right support in their local school sooner, without having to fight for it, and are designed with parents so everyone has confidence in the system we have built.

“Every child, whatever their background or needs, should be able to access high-quality sport in and out of school. That’s why we’re investing up to £300,000 a year through the Inclusion 2028 program – developing teachers’ skills to deliver truly inclusive PE and school sport to students through Send.”