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Boy tried to hang himself aged nine after racial abuse at special needs The Orchard School in Canterbury

A 10-year-old boy attempted suicide after suffering racist bullying at a school which has recorded almost 200 “racial incidents” in just two years, KentOnline can reveal.

Caleb Hills was just nine when he tried to take his own life following repeated taunts from other pupils at The Orchard School in Canterbury.

10-year-old boy attempted suicide after suffering racist bullying at school

His mother, Tyler Hills, has accused the school - which teaches children with special needs - of failing to protect her son.

But school bosses say they dealt effectively with the abuse Caleb suffered.

Ms Hills, 46, of Chartham, says the bullying started shortly after Caleb joined the school in September 2017 - aged just eight - and eventually left her “lovely, bubbly, talkative boy” suicidal.

Recalling how Caleb, who is of mixed race, first told her he had been called the n-word, she said: “My gut dropped. He asked ‘what does it mean?’.

“I thought ‘how dare you allow my child to be treated like that?’

Caleb and mum Tyler. Picture: Matt Bristow
Caleb and mum Tyler. Picture: Matt Bristow

“I’ve got to sit here and explain to him what this means. He’s a baby - I shouldn’t have to be going through all this, not at this age.”

Caleb, who has a range of learning disabilities, says other pupils would use derogatory racial slurs both near him and aimed directly at him.

“It made me angry and upset because I know what the n-word actually means,” he said.

“I didn’t want to go to school because they harassed me all day.”

The Orchard School implements a “restorative justice” system to deal with conflict among pupils - which involved Caleb sitting down with his name-callers so they could apologise.

The Orchard School, Cambridge Road, Canterbury Picture: Ruth Cuerden
The Orchard School, Cambridge Road, Canterbury Picture: Ruth Cuerden

But as the abuse continued, Ms Hills grew concerned about the school’s reliance on the practice.

“You can’t force him to sit there while children pay lip service and make him accept their apology,” she said.

CEO of the Restorative Justice Council, Jim Simon, raised concerns about the number of times the practice was used to deal with the situation, adding that the large number of racial incidents recorded at the school “suggest the current systems in place are not having the desired impact”.

After further meetings, the school agreed to keep Ms Hills informed of racist incidents, and give Caleb access to a senior member of staff when they occurred.

But the bullying continued, and Ms Hills said Caleb “changed dramatically”, growing anxious and reluctant to go to school.

Caleb has been pulled out of school by mum Tyler after racial abuse Picture: Matt Bristow
Caleb has been pulled out of school by mum Tyler after racial abuse Picture: Matt Bristow

Last summer, at the age of nine, he tried to take his own life.

“He tried to hang himself,” said his mum. “I found him in his bedroom. I felt sick to the pit of my stomach, and helpless.

“He said ‘they keep calling me mean things, they’re not nice to me, I keep telling the teachers but they’re not listening.”

In May, Ms Hills removed Caleb from the school.

“They’d had more than enough time to resolve it,” she said.

“Caleb is now on antidepressants.

“What 10-year-old should be on antidepressants? All because he’s suffered more than two years of racial abuse.”

Ms Hills says she is now concerned for other black or minority ethnic children at The Orchard School, which as of June had 101 pupils, just four of whom are from “mixed heritage backgrounds”.

Caleb is now out of school, and Ms Hills fears it will be another year before a space is found for him at an appropriate special needs establishment.

“He will not return to any school run by KCC,” said Ms Hills, who is now her son’s full-time carer.

“Having him out of school means I am looking after him 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said.

“I love my child dearly, but I need a break and he needs an education.”

Head teacher Annabelle Lilly Picture: Ruth Cuerden
Head teacher Annabelle Lilly Picture: Ruth Cuerden

The Orchard School head teacher Annabel Lilley says it takes reports of bullying or inappropriate behaviour “extremely seriously”.

“We are a special school and a very high proportion of our primary-aged pupils have additional speech, language and communication needs,” she added.

“This means they can sometimes use language that is inappropriate and can be hurtful to other pupils and on occasions, including in this case, the words used may relate to another pupil’s race or heritage.

“As a school we use restorative justice to teach our pupils their behaviour is inappropriate and to help them understand the impact their words can have on others. All our teaching staff have had appropriate training in how to make best use of restorative justice and we believe it is effective in the majority of cases. The local authority and the school’s full governing body carried out thorough investigations into the way staff use restorative justice to deal with these types of incidents and both organisations were satisfied with the findings, as was Ofsted.

“School staff, governors, the local authority and I worked extensively with Caleb’s mother to try to bring about a solution that Ms Hills would be satisfied with and that would enable him to remain here. Caleb was well-liked and was doing well and we are sorry he is no longer a part of our school community.”

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