A FOUR-YEAR-old hasn’t been allowed in his classroom for a month after being suspended more than five times in the space of six months, with his mum slamming school bosses for a lack of support.
The mum feels like “no-one is supporting her or her son” with leaders at Prince Avenue Academy and Nursery, in Westcliff, unable to tell her when her child will be allowed to return.
The child has been suspended multiple times since starting in September, with the latest suspension on January 29 branded a “temporary exclusion”.
The mum insists she told school leaders that her son “gets frustrated and struggles with his emotions” and that he may be on the autistic spectrum, but was told it wouldn’t be a problem for him to attend.
However, six months later the child has spent long periods outside the classroom, with the mum “emotionally drained and frustrated”.
Some of the incidents leading to suspensions included “being dangerous with scissors” and “being violent towards staff”.
The mum said: “I am a working mum, and to be honest, if I wasn’t at the position I am within my job and company, then I would have lost my job by now.
“I have to accommodate the school so much and I have said from the start my son needs structure and routine and since all of this over the last six month, it has made his emotional wellbeing worse, which then affects his behaviour.
“It has made my emotionally drained and alone as it feels like no one is supporting me or him, and it is so upsetting to see my son feel that no one in the school likes him, he is down, unhappy, and it breaks my heart.”
The school stated it has 500 pupils but only one child has been “temporarily excluded”.
The mum stated that her child made “great progress” handling his emotions in pre-school, after receiving additional support from staff.
She added: “However, this school has let me down, if he had the right one on one support going forward, he would been absolutely fine, but instead I get told ‘it takes a lot to deal with him’.”
Headteacher Gary Clement, said: “We work hard to ensure that all the children feel valued and respected and enjoy learning in a safe, happy environment.
“In fact, Ofsted described our efforts to promote the development and welfare of pupils as ‘outstanding’, which I am incredibly proud of. In very exceptional circumstances we use short ‘fixed-term exclusion’.
“For context, in a school of almost 500, we currently have one child temporarily excluded.
“While it would not be appropriate to talk about the specific circumstances, what I can say is that we have specially trained staff who have been working closely with the local authority’s inclusion team and the family. We continue to work to find a sensible and satisfactory resolution.”
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