Disabled boy turned away from school on first day (From Your Local Guardian)

Disabled boy turned away from school on first day

9:01am Tuesday 9th September 2008 in Search By Kirsty Whalley

An 11-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome was turned away from an exclusive school on his first day.

Charles Hall had told he had been accepted at the school by Croydon Council, the fees had been paid and his mum, Zoulfia, 41, from Purley, had even bought him a uniform.

But when he arrived at the Royal Alexandra and Albert school (RAA) in Reigate he was told to go home by a teacher.

Croydon Council notified the RAA that Charles, who has been assessed as having above average intelligence and is a talented artist and animator would start in the new term and it would foot the bill for 32 hours of classroom support.

Frustrated mum-of-three, Mrs Hall, said: “The whole week I had been saying: ‘Don’t worry Charlie everything will be fine,’ and then we were called into a room and told that there was no place for us.”

Dad John Hall, 58, added: “What was worse, was that all this was said in front of Charles, who has little enough self-esteem and self-confidence as it is. He was all dressed up in his new school uniform and looking forward to attending school.”

“What was worse, was that all this was said in front of Charles, who has little enough self-esteem and self-confidence as it is. He was all dressed up in his new school uniform and looking forward to attending school.”

Related links

• The National Autistic Society
• Royal Alexandra and Albert school

John Hall

Asperger’s is a form of autism and those affected have difficulty communicating and socialising with other people as they are unable to interpret emotions.

Mrs Hall said Charles ran away and hid. “I asked him what he was doing and he said that he felt sad about his experience and that he did not want to talk about it,” she said.

“Charles loves drawing an animation and I want him to go into that as a career as he enjoys it so much. I want him to go to university and lead a normal life. Instead of being educated, he is stuck in his room.”

A council spokesman said: “The council had agreed a support package for the pupil at the RAA and this was confirmed to the school both through conversation and correspondence. It has therefore come as a disappointment to learn that the school appears to have reneged on its previous agreement to accept the child.”

But the RAA said that the decision to take Charles had been turned down after a meeting with experts at which the parents were present.

Headmaster Paul Spencer Ellis said: “We accepted the decision of the professionals at Charles’ annual review meeting and were therefore not expecting Charles to join the school in September. It is regrettable that we were only advised the decision had been overturned during the holidays when staff were away and unable to respond.”

“We are already in the process of refunding the fees paid by Charles’s parents. As a goodwill gesture we are prepared to refund the cost of the uniform they purchased for Charles.”

• For more information on schools in your area click here.