A mum who thinks her son could be autistic has blasted his school for removing him from lessons five times in six months.
The four-year-old boy has been a pupil at Prince Avenue Academy and Nursery in Southend, Essex since September last year.
He was suspended four times before his most recent punishment - a month-long "temporary exclusion" which started on January 29.
His mum - who says she feels "emotionally drained" from the lack of support - claims she is yet to be told when he can return.
The lad was excluded because he was "being violent towards staff" and had been "dangerous with scissors", reports say.
The working mum claims she made staff aware her boy could be on the autistic spectrum and that he "gets frustrated and struggles with his emotions".
She told the Echo: “I have to accommodate the school so much and I have said from the start my son needs structure and routine and since all of this over the last six month, it has made his emotional wellbeing worse, which then affects his behaviour.
“It has made me emotionally drained and alone as it feels like no one is supporting me or him, and it is so upsetting to see my son feel that no one in the school likes him, he is down, unhappy, and it breaks my heart.”
The boy made significant progress with his emotions after teachers provided additional support at his pre-school, his mum claims.
She added: “This school has let me down, if he had the right one on one support going forward, he would been absolutely fine, but instead I get told ‘it takes a lot to deal with him’.”
Responding to the mum's complaint, headteacher Gary Clement told the Mirror that out of the 500 students at the school, just one has been "temporarily excluded".
Mr Clement said: “We work hard to ensure that all the children feel valued and respected and enjoy learning in a safe, happy environment.
“In fact, Ofsted described our efforts to promote the development and welfare of pupils as ‘outstanding’, which I am incredibly proud of. In very exceptional circumstances we use short ‘fixed-term exclusion’.
“For context, in a school of almost 500, we currently have one child temporarily excluded.
“While it would not be appropriate to talk about the specific circumstances, what I can say is that we have specially trained staff who have been working closely with the local authority’s inclusion team and the family. We continue to work to find a sensible and satisfactory resolution.”
