DELAYS in building work mean a severely disabled pupil is still waiting for her first day at secondary school.

Lucy Hudson, 11, who lives in the village of Bekesbourne, near Canterbury, is permanently wheelchair-bound by congenital muscular dystrophy.

For the past five weeks she has been at home with her mother, Hayley, while her future classmates attend Barton Court Grammar School in Canterbury.

Lucy’s condition means she has to lie down during lessons and needs to be hoisted in her wheelchair using a tailored sling when moving around the school.

KCC said this week the cost of Lucy’s access to Barton Court was in the region of £300,000 and it had been working on this for a year.

The delay in the work was caused by structural problems exposed over the summer holidays which mean Lucy cannot gain safe access to classrooms and other necessary areas.

Mrs Hudson said: “Lucy is a bright girl and she desperately wants to go to school. The LEA has known for a year she would be attending Barton Court. They could have prepared much earlier than this.

“Five weeks into her first term she is missing out on new friends and being part of the class. Being disabled is problem enough and she is feeling cut off at the moment.”

Lucy, who has been in a wheelchair since she was three, said: “I am upset that I can’t join my friends at secondary school. I just want to start as soon as possible.”

A KCC spokesman said the cost of the work was being funded jointly with the school.

Work includes creating a new care suite, teaching area, ensuring wheelchair access and specialist training of staff to understand Lucy’s needs.

It also said the entire year seven timetable had been rearranged entirely for the ground floor of the school. Lucy will access her lessons from a purpose built teaching area.

A purpose-built bed set to allow her to take lessons in comfort proved faulty and had to be returned.

The spokesman said: “Regrettably there has been an unavoidable delay in the building within the school.

“We have been providing Lucy with one-to-one tuition at home to ensure that her academic progress is not compromised. We reassured Mrs Hudson that we are doing everything possible to ensure Lucy’s continued access to appropriate educational provision.”