A young, Black, single mother is demanding that a Newham primary school explain why she was not told when an accusation of mistreatment was made involving her six-year-old disabled son.

The mother, whose name has been withheld to protect the child, says the first she heard was when a whistleblowing teaching assistant (TA), told her he had made a complaint about another TA. The whistleblower claims he witnessed the child being encouraged to eat tissue paper during lunch. He has since left the primary school, but also wants to know what action has been taken.

The boy has multiple conditions including learning difficulties, obesity and pica, the desire by young children to eat substances not usually considered food, such as paper. Recently he has been diagnosed with the rare chromosome 3 disorder that can cause such issues.

The whistleblower also highlighted instances between November 2020 and April 2021 where the boy was spoken to harshly and accused of being slow.

His mother took him out of the school when she found out about the inci- dents and has been home schooling him until another school can be found.

She said: “It all made sense when I found out because his behaviour changed at home, he became angry and didn’t want to go to school whereas previously he had loved it. I want to know why I wasn’t told what was going on because I do not want other parents to go through what we have gone through.”

No one from the school had responded to Newham Voices’ inquiries as we went to press. But a letter to the mother said they could not share the outcome of their internal inquiries because of data protection.

In a statement to the Independent online newspaper which reported the case anonymously, the school said the allegations were investigated fully andthat they “took appropriate action”. This included fol- lowing the statutory process of seeking external con- sultation with the Newham Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Service to provide independent over- sight on the issues raised and included liaison with the police and children’s social care.

They claimed there had been communication with the parent, but no details were offered. A statement from Newham Council in the Independent story echoed the school response.

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