Stories

First school, the anger started to boil here and I could not longer hide the frustration and anger. I threw a chair at my headteacher when he told me he was going to exclude from my current school and move me to a different one ( a partner school).

If you’ve been in care, the likelihood is you’ve probably also been excluded from school. And at the heart of that exclusion is something that is familiar and often used to define the care experience. It clings to a person, unlike the child who drags their teddy; like dragging a dead animal.

My story is about school and exclusion – but self induced exclusion rather than state enforced. From my 1st year at senior school until I left at 16 I did not have a full week at school. Sometimes I was away from school for weeks on end. No one really noticed and even fewer really cared.

This is from a parent perspective and I am from Australia. Exclusion as experienced by my young Autistic has been more than just what’s typically and specifically defined

Years ago, as a head teacher, I was faced with the awful situation of a child whose foster care placement was breaking down. He was a boy with a serious back-story, but we all had a special place in our hearts for him.