A mother has described how her son, who has autism, didn't go to school for two years and was suicidal after being temporarily excluded in his last year of primary school. Jo Leonard, said her boy, now 14, is back in classes after getting "life changing" support from a secondary school in Barry.
Whitmore High School in Barry has the first specialist resource base for pupils with autism in the Vale of Glamorgan. It opened in 2021 helping 19 children aged 11 to 16 get back to school and access mainstream lessons as well as specialist help.
Jo, from Llantwit Major fought back tears as she described how her son, who she asked not to be named, would not leave his room and "couldn't see the point in life" when he was 11. She said she now "had her son back" thanks to help he got from teachers at Whitmore after years of trauma for the whole family.
