A Co Down family say they hope they can help other children to avoid being discriminated against in the same way their daughter was at nursery school.
Michelle and Alan Cummins took a case against Trinity Nursery School in Bangor on behalf of their five-year-old daughter Amelie.
Amelie was born with Downs Syndrome and has a statement of Special Educational Needs, for 22.5 hours of support in the classroom each week.
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Despite this though, she was made to wait 15 minutes longer than all the rest of her classmates to start school each morning when she started attending Trinity Nursery School in September 2020.
This was despite Amelie having a dedicated classroom assistant who was there each morning.
Michelle and Alan also alleged that the school wanted Amelie to finish school 15 minutes early each day, something which they would not agree to.
The Bangor couple made the decision to take her out of the school in December 2020 and were then in tribunal proceedings for the next two years against the school, which eventually ended in a settlement.
"It's one of the hardest things that we've been through, it was extremely stressful," said Michelle.
"What they've put us through has just been horrendous.
"It's been a long two years and we've had to fight for them to admit our complaint, they've admitted that they discriminated against Amelie.
"But they've only done that after two years and after us having to go to tribunal which is a long, hard process."
Michelle said Amelie was now in P1 and was doing much better after going to a different nursery but that the dispute with Trinity had soured their experience as parents.
"They didn't allow me to be part of the transition for Amelie starting nursery, so I wasn't allowed in the nursery," she added.
"And there was a few other things that they just refused that we had wanted as a reasonable adjustment.
"And it just didn't sit well with us to the point where we had to remove her.
"The nursery experience was meant to be exciting and fun, but it was the opposite of that."
Amelie's dad Alan said they had persevered because they felt it was the right thing to do for other parents as well.
"I'm glad that we stuck with it and I think there were times when we doubted whether we should keep going with it," he said.
"It's so important for Amelie and for other children who may attend schools to see that you should be treated correctly and there is a process if something goes wrong.
"Amelie's not a second-class citizen, she should have the same rights and the same experience as every child.
"There's some other people who may be scared or anxious about taking such cases and we felt it was for us to step forward and to make sure that these kinds of things don't happen to other people."
The Cummins were supported through the Tribunal process by the Equality Commission.
In settling the case, Trinity Nursery has accepted that they treated Amelie less favourably as a result of her disability and that they failed to make reasonable adjustments for her.
The school has also apologised to Amelie and her parents for any upset caused.
"Whilst we cannot comment on individual pupils, as a school we will take on board all learning from the case and are firmly committed to the principle of equality of opportunity for all disabled pupils," a school spokesperson said.
"We will also work with the Equality Commission in ensuring that all of our policies, practices and procedures conform in all respects with national equality legislation in relation to Disability Discrimination in education, as well as best practice."
Mary Kitson, Senior Legal Officer at the Equality Commission said: “It is unacceptable that any pupil would be treated less favourably because of their disability.
"We really wish that this hadn't happened to Amelie, that as a disabled child, she is entitled to a full, high-quality education.
"She should not experience less favourable treatment, her needs as a disabled pupil should be met at all stages throughout her education journey.
"We're delighted that the Commission is going to be working with the school to look at their policies and procedures and to make sure that this doesn't happen again to any other child with a disability.
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