A TEN-year-old disabled girl has been given a full-time school place after almost a year of waiting – to the delight of her mum.

Danielle Beetham said her daughter Ellie-May, who has Down’s Syndrome, would be starting full-time in year six at Trinity All Saints Primary in Bingley on Monday.

In March, the Telegraph & Argus told how Bradford Council had been unable to find a school place for Ellie-May after the family had moved to Bingley from Wakefield in August last year.

Miss Beetham, 27, said she notified the Council in July last year – about two weeks before schools broke up for summer – that the family would be moving back to the Bradford district and that Ellie-May would need a school place.

She was finally placed in a school in June for the final five weeks of term, before the summer holidays, on half days.

Now, she is looking forward to starting full-time in year six at Trinity All Saints.

Her delighted mum said: “She is starting full-time this year. The main thing is that Ellie-May is in school.

“I am touching wood that it will all go well. But I am just glad she is in school and that she can make friends.”

Miss Beetham added: “She seems happy. She is just looking forward to starting full-time.

“I am really proud of her and happy with the school for getting her in.

“She has been out for ten months. She is a child that needs to learn, that needs the education and the friends around her.”

On her hopes for her daughter, Miss Beetham said: “Just that she does well and she is happy there.”

She added: “The school has done well to get Ellie-May to where she is now.

“Trinity said no at first because of a report from her last school which said pretty much that she needed to be in a disabled school.

“But from reading Ellie-May’s report to seeing how she is in person, they saw she was completely different. They are really happy with her.”

Next year, Miss Beetham said her daughter was likely to go to Hazelbeck Special School in Bingley, which shares its premises with Beckfoot School.

“If she goes to Hazelbeck she can mix in both. She can have playtime with the mainstream, and any lessons she can cope with she can go into Beckfoot. She is a bright child but doesn’t work as fast as others.”