Autistic child expelled for climbing a fence.

We are parents of Bodhi, he is five, severely Autistic and he has been expelled from a school for complex learning needs and disabilites for climbing a fence! Bodhi has 2:1 support at all times. Bodhi was totally non-verbal until Christmas 2022. He's been speaking now for less than six months but is progressing well!

Bodhi has been at his school for over two years now. Last year (2022), Bodhi's head teacher told us at an annual review, "We've gone as far as we can go with Bodhi", which was devastating to hear. However, we fought his corner and explained that his nutritional needs needed assessing as we believed he wasn't getting the right nutrition which resulted in challengin behaviour, sleepless nights and regular illness. We took Bodhi to the hospital for a blood test and proved his levels were desperately low. The head teacher agreed to bring in a dietician, which took almost a year. We did our homework and now he eats better, doesn't get poorly often and sleeps 12 hours per night.

The head teacher pulled me in the office one day and explained that Bodhi had caused 'serious injuries' to a staff member who had been sent to A&E. It turned out that Bodhi had ran over a teacher's foot with an empty wheel chair / striker chair. In fact, there were no injuries what so ever! Bodhi's teacher profusely apologised several times saying she had been forced to go to A&E. When we challenged the head teacher about this, she said that she sent ther staff member to A&E "to gain further funding for Bodhi". being ex-ambulance and Bodhi's mum and A&E nurse, we knew at this point we were being lied to and a case was now being built against Bodhi, the school were not helping him and there was no person-centred care approach. Shortly after, another staff member was sent to A&E as Bodhi caught the staff member in the groin area whilst playing in the field. Again, the head teacher accused Bodhi of causing 'serious injuries', and yet again there was no evidence at all of any injury. The staff member aplogised to us profuself, saying he was forced to go to A&E and told to take time off after.

Bodhi has been accused of causing injury to school visitors, yet no documents or evidence has ever been seen. In fact, we (parents) were not even aware of this until the expulsion letter!

Bodhi's class was closed every Wednesday over 50 times (we believe). The head teacher has refused to release the information on exactly how many times his class was closed. They did not bring in a temp teacher, and the class closures were agreed and justified because of the budget. This impacted on Bodhi's routine and our lives as parents and functional members of society.

An annual review was set up 19th April by the local authority to assess Bodhi's needs. The head teacher obstructed the annual review taking place. We believe she did this because she personally wanted to expel Bodhi, and Bodhi is not the first child and family to suffer and be expelled by this head teacher.

A meeting was set up with the local authority. However, we tried to re-arrange the meeting as Bodhi's Mum had recebtly had Cancer removed from her face and now had an infection. The head teacher said no problem, yet she went ahead and had the meeting without us being present. She told us after the meeting that it went ahead. The local authority said the head teacher did not make any attempt to change the meeting date. As yet (July 2023), we still have no idea what was discussed or decided in the meeting. If the head teacher felt that the school could not meet his needs, the annual review should of gone ahead and a new placement found. This would of been the 'least restrictive' route for Bodhi and us as a family. Again, we believe the head teacher prevented the annual review going ahead beacuse she personally wanted to expell Bodhi.

In March, Myself and Bodhi's Mum went to school to pick up Bodhi. We were asked to have 'a quick chat' with the head teacher, but we said not this time as we had plans, however, we are free any other day for a 'quick chat'. 22:00 the same night, we received a threatening text from the head teacher, who said because we didn't go and see her, she was forced to bring in the local authority on safety grounds because Bodhi is a danger to himself and others!?

Bodhi came into school one morning, and climbed a fence. He was then suspended and sent home. The school said they could not mitigate his safety, and that falling from a five foot fence onto grass is life threatening. Four days later, they expelled Bodhi permenantly for climbing a fence. We challenged the school and asked where his 2:1 support staff were, who were no where to be seen when these things 'apparently' happened. We had no response.

We put a complaint in against the head teacher, which was held by the board of governers. We listed all of these points of concerns and asked to see the evidence of injuries caused. During stage 1 of the complaint, the governer spent 1 hour explaining why it was justified that Bodhi's class was closed over 50 times, because of the cost of recruitment and high turn over of staff! We asked what the cost was of the well-being of a child and family, no response. the head teacher was now LYING and saying that she did not send anyone to A&E, and that the staff members chose to go to A&E themselves, which is a lie. The governer then admitted he had not read the rest of our complaint and points of concern.

Following Bodhi's expulsion we had a panel meeting, again with the board of governers. Not ONCE did they ask the head teacher to provide any evidence to back up her claims of Bodhi causing injuries. We asked where the 2:1 support staff were when these 'incidents' happened, and why was Bodhi allowed to get from his class, outside his class and get to the other side of school without being prevented by support staff and teachers. No response.

The head teacher also submitted to the panel hearing a lot of 'behavioural charts'. One in particular document said that Bodhi came into school one morning saying, "Bodhi bite teacher, Bodhi bite teacher". This made me furious, because at the time he was accused of saying this, he was still totally non-verbal!! There are many other accusations, all of which are totally untrue. All behavioural charts have a 'next steps' box, which were all blank and we as parents had not been informed about any of these so called inclidents. We were treated unfairly, and the board protected the head teacher and gave the decision to the school as lawful and reasonable.

Bodhi has been discriminated, he has been left behind and the impact on his development is catastrophic. The impact on our lives as parents is incalcuable. We now have Bodhi at home 24/7 and it is his right to an education and right to not be discriminated. The loacl authority has been extremely slow to help us over the past two months since Bodhi being expelled. No provision offered, no annual review set up, no alternative provision offered and despite daily emails we have no idea when or where Bodhi will go to school. The local authority did say they have found a school for Bodhi which is in Frome, 91 miles away!

We have been to two MPs, they are unable to help. We have been to OFSTED, they are not listening. We have been to the Department of Education, they are not listening. We believe the only way we are going to win Bodhi's rights to an education and stop the school from doing what they have done is via a solicitor, and this is why we have set up the Go Fund Me.

We want to expose the head teacher for discriminating Bodhi. We want to make changes so that NO CHILD and NO FAMILY ever suffer like this, and we want to change the systems and processes so that each child and family are treated fairly and that investigations takle place to ensure standards are being met, the child's needs are being met and that everyone is doing thier best for the child and family. The head teacher can not be allowed to get away with how she has discriminated Bodhi and forced us as a family into a position where we are forced to 'fight to survive'. Every child and family should be helped into a position where they can thrive and flourish. OFSTED and the Department of Education say that child child will be left behind. Bodhi has been left behind and all those involved who could and should of intervened and not allowed these things to happen, have sat back and watched it happen! It is time for things to change, we cannot let this go and let the head teacher get away with the lies she has told and the way Bodhi has been treated. We are going to make a change, not just for Bodhi, but for other children and families.