Our beautiful and gentle 11-year-old son Austin has not been safe at school. After repeated incidents that have left us deeply concerned about his care, dignity and physical safety, we made the heartbreaking decision to stop sending him to his specialist school on 20 May 2026. Austin has an intellectual disability and significant support and supervision needs, and we cannot send him back until we are confident he will have the consistent 1:1 support he needs to be safe. 

His school is Yarrabah Specialist School in Aspendale. We want Austin back at school to continue learning and being educated.

We have offered to fully fund a suitable, appropriately screened, parent-selected 1:1 support person to be with him at school. We are not asking the school or the Victorian Government to pay for this support.

Our request has been refused.

Some of the incidents that have led us to lose confidence in Austin’s safety at school include:

• Picking Austin up from school and finding dried faeces/poo up his back and on the underside of his T-shirt, indicating he had been left in soiled clothing for a significant period. We have spent years supporting Austin with toileting so that he feels safe and confident using the toilet.
• Two lunchboxes being smashed, with no clear explanation provided to us, and Austin then continuing to be fed from those damaged lunchboxes.
• Several pairs of prescription glasses being broken, each costing around $600. Austin cannot see properly without his glasses.
  Days where we have been concerned the classroom was understaffed for the level of support required.
• School outings where we say we were not asked for our formal permission, and when we requested advance information about where Austin would be taken, we were not given the detail we asked for.
• We were refused when we asked for a direct contact number for the staff member supervising Austin while he was on “Community Access trips” outside school, despite our concern about being able to make contact in an emergency. They also didn’t feel it necessary to get parents permission for each trip nor do they want to tell me where they are taking my son (and all other students).
• Austin has a history of choking on food due to swallowing difficulties, and we have never felt adequately reassured that every staff member supporting him was properly trained and competent to manage that risk.
• Despite Austin’s complex disability and support needs, we have never been invited into a proper, structured discussion about how his disability presents, what his triggers are, what works for him, what causes distress, or how staff should respond to keep him safe and regulated.

For Austin, 1:1 support is about much more than learning. It is about safety, communication, regulation and being able to participate in school at all.

And allowing us to fund Austin’s support ourselves could mean existing school staff and resources remain available for other students who need them.

We are asking for a clear pathway that allows families of students with significant disability to provide their own appropriately screened and privately funded 1:1 support person where genuine safety and supervision needs exist.

Families should not have to choose between sending a vulnerable child to school when they do not believe adequate support is in place, or keeping that child home.

Austin deserves to be at school. He deserves to be safe there.

Please sign if you believe families should be allowed to provide additional 1:1 support, at their own cost, when it enables a child with disability to safely access their education.