‘They may as well say she’s too autistic’ says mum of girl banned from school prom
Rebecca says her daughter has meltdowns because of her autism, but is being punished for bad behaviour
Rebecca Waite with daughter Maisey Halliwell(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
The mum of a schoolgirl banned from her high school prom says she’s being punished for having a disability.
Rebecca Waite’s daughter Maisey Halliwell had been unsure about attending prom as she struggles with anxiety and wasn’t sure if she’d feel up to going.
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But after telling Dean Trust Wigan she would like to attend the event, her mum received a phone call from school saying her daughter was banned because of her ‘bad behaviour’.
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Mum-of-three Rebecca admits there have been issues with Maisey at the school, but says it’s her autism that causes her to have ‘meltdowns’ and claims she’s never been fully supported for her special educational needs.
Rebecca with Maisey(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
Now, she says the 16-year-old is being ‘let down once again’ by being barred from the special event for school leavers and seeing how sad it’s made her is ‘awful to watch’.
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“Due to her autism Maisey doesn’t always follow the rules,” said auxiliary nurse Rebecca. “But school have always been aware of that. She has a support worker with Embrace, who help children with SEN in schools, and she knows how Maisey really struggles with meltdowns and has tried to put things in place at school for how Maisey should be approached.”
Rebecca, whose daughter was diagnosed with autism at the age of seven and has also needed mental health support, says she has made numerous complaints to the school over the years.
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When her daughter was in Year 10 she says she complained after one of Maisey’s meltdowns meant she was sent in a taxi to the sister school Dean Trust Rose Bridge alone, which left her ‘scared and unable to go back to school for a week’.
Dean Trust Wigan(Image: Dean Trust Wigan / Facebook)
More recently she complained when Maisey was ‘targeted’ and left in tears before her GCSE maths exam after being questioned whether she had her mobile phone.
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“She’s always struggled to control her emotions and she never quite feels like she fits in,” said Rebecca, 40, who lives with her daughter in Pemberton, alongside husband Robbie and Maisey’s younger sister, seven.
“She’s never felt heard. Only one teacher really understands her, the others think she’s rude and cocky, but they don’t see that she just puts her defences up.
“They’ve said to me ‘you can’t blame her autism for everything’ but people need to understand that it comes with every emotion going and really affects mental health too.
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“If schools can’t understand and make changes then how can we educate children to understand others? They’re not seeing her as different, they’re seeing her as a problem.”
Rebecca says her daughter has meltdowns because of her autism, but is being punished for bad behaviour(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)
In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, Dean Trust Wigan was given a ‘requires improvement’ rating, a step up from its previous ‘inadequate’.