We have been made aware of T-Jay’s story and his family’s wish for him to stay at Westdale Junior School. We have asked both Westdale School and Nova Education Trust for a comment, but none has been made.
It is a story that, thankfully, most of us do not have to deal with. Whatever the reasons for stopping his transition from Westdale Infants to Juniors, it is letting T-Jay down.
This is the story of a little boy and his family who are having to fight the system to get what every child deserves, and that’s an education that meets his needs.
T-Jay’s needs are a little more than other children of his age because he has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, he’s now 7 years old, he will be lucky if he’s not in a wheelchair by 11 years old, so his life needs to be as ‘normal’ as possible for as long as possible because soon it won’t be.
Duchenne is devastating condition and you would think, no expect, that he would get as much support as possible from the education system, and let’s face it, with a shorter life expectancy his time at school will represent the greater part of his life.
T-Jay is not getting this support, his mum isn’t just having to fight to keep T-Jays life normal, nor just making sure her other 2 kids don’t miss out because of the time and dedication it takes to care for T-Jay, she is having to fight to ensure his transfer to Westdale Junior School, where he is already settled.
The below letter is the redacted formal complaint sent to the Nova Education Trust by T-Jays mother.
Does this kind of thing happen elsewhere?
