Imagine watching your 12-year-old child - just a little boy starting Year 7 - get completely locked out of his school for 5 months. Imagine watching him sit at home, cut off from his friends, his classes and his normal life - while the school gives him almost zero help to learn from home.

My name is Sarah, and this nightmare is exactly what my family just went through.

When I tried to stand up for my son and ask basic questions about how the school can just lock him out, the school bosses didn't listen. Instead, they completely turned on us. Every single time I reached out for help through the official complaint channels, the school and their central office retaliated. Instead of helping, they actively upped the ante, applying harsher and harsher penalties against my son until they finally decided to execute a flawed expulsion process to push him out entirely. The stress, sadness and hurt this targeted bullying has caused my son, my daughters and our whole family has been absolutely devastating.

We know this has been happening in Canberra for years - and only a handful of families have ever been able to fight back because it takes massive amounts of money to fight a big school through expensive legal channels.

 Everyday Australian families simply cannot afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars in court just to make a school follow the rules.

When a private school turns its massive power against a child, normal parents hit a total brick wall. Right now in the ACT there is no independent referee, no watchdog, and no fair appeals process to step in and stop a private school from messing with attendance data or kicking a kid out unfairly. They get to act like laws unto themselves under the Education Act 2004 (ACT), using their big budgets to silence parents while our kids pay the price.

We have to stop these big schools from having unchecked power over our families - and we need to stop them from being able to ruin our children.

We are calling on the ACT Government and the Education Minister to urgently set up an independent watchdog or Ombudsman for non-government schools. No school board should have the power to ruin a child's future behind closed doors.

Our kids have a basic right to feel safe and protected at school. They deserve to learn without being targeted by school bosses.

Please sign this petition today. Help us turn our family's pain into a shield to protect every single student in Canberra. Together, we can force the government to stand up for our kids so no other family has to fight this heartbreaking battle alone.