When 12-year-old Ollie Baldwin asked his mum when his year 6 formal was going to be, she avoided answering the question.
"He was blissfully unaware," Amy Goel said.
Ollie, who has autism, attends Arise Christian College (ACC), a school that caters for students living with disabilities and is the sister campus of Maitland Christian School (MCS) in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.
Arise had two year six students this year, including Ollie.
Ms Goel had found out Maitland Christian School's year 6 formal had already taken place — and Ollie had not been invited.
"When I hadn't heard anything about invitations I sent an email to his class teacher and got a quick response saying 'no, he wasn't included in anything with the mainstream part of the school'," she told the ABC.
"I contacted the parents' Facebook group and asked if there was a formal or a dinner happening for them, and I was told that 'yep, that's already happened'.
"Naturally, that just made my blood boil."
Ms Goel said Ollie was heartbroken when he found out, telling his mum it was "not fair".
"I thought like every other year 6 student, that he would be able to attend a formal and a graduation ceremony."
College promotes inclusion
Ms Goel said she chose to enrol her son at ACC three years ago because it actively promoted inclusion.
"The big thing on the website and in the principal's speeches during the end of year assemblies was how the sister schools integrate, they attend extracurricular activities, camps, carnivals together," she said.
She said Ollie was blossoming at the school, and went along to the year 5 camp last year, as well as several carnivals and events.
She said she could not understand why the formal was treated any differently.
"I don't know whether it was just in the too-hard basket, or what.
"[His friends are] all sharing pictures of their formals and getting dressed up, and he doesn't have that."
Arise held a separate end of year ceremony, which went for 45 minutes, and gave Ollie and the other year 6 student a graduation gift and a certificate.
College responds
The principal of MCS and ACC Geoff Peet told the ABC in a statement that the school endeavours "to make decisions based on each child's complex learning and social needs".
"As a relatively new school, we are still refining these practices and are sorry that we did not meet expectations this time.
"We are reviewing our approach in this case and will share the learnings across our leadership team. MCS and ACC are two of the most integrated schools in this space.
"Our mission in starting Arise was to include ACC and MCS students in as many activities as is appropriate so that all students can benefit from the opportunities that their interaction brings."
Since she went public with her son's story, Ms Goel said she had been overwhelmed with support from people offering to help Ollie celebrate his milestone.
A local business had invited Ollie to watch the Newcastle Jets from a corporate box and others have offered to throw discos or parties for him and his friends.
"It shows me that there are good people out there, that this does matter, and inclusion is an important thing," she said.
