A MUM has said pupils are being let down after the move to North Ayrshire’s new ASN school after a teacher allegedly assaulted her son when he would not take off his ear defenders.

Isabelle Torrance has complained of ongoing issues at Lockhart campus, alleging the teacher laid her hands on her son Jamie – who has autism, anxiety and learning disabilities – after telling him to remove his ear covers.

The Kilwinning mum, whose 14-year-old son moved from Stanecastle school, also stated pupils are not getting access to what was promised – with pupils left unsettled by being continuously moved from class to class.

North Ayrshire Council this week gave assurances that any allegations will be investigated thoroughly.

Isabelle said: “The second day in at school they were in a class and the teacher asked Jamie to take his ear defenders off and he said no.

“She said: “Jamie take them off, you’re being bad you're not listening to me”. He said: ‘I always leave them on’.

“She’s put her hands up to take them off then he put his hands up over his head – but she still prised them off him. He had a bruise on the inside of his left arm where she caught him.

“She told him that he was bad and he was going to get sent to the head teacher and that she was going to write us a letter – but that was later removed from his bag before he came home.

“He was really distraught about it – I went to one of the teachers the next day, and his words were ‘it sounds like she [the teacher] needs more support’. My son’s had this done to him and they’re telling me maybe she needs more support?

“We’re lucky that Jamie can come home and tell us what happened but there are many other kids down there that might not be able to communicate.

“ He’s stressed about going into school, he absolutely hates it down there – nobody will do anything.

“We sent a letter 10 days ago about what happened, we didn’t get a response at all off the school so took it to head of inclusion. They’ve not got in touch at all.”

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “We would never talk about individual cases within any of our schools but please be assured that any allegations received are investigated thoroughly.

“Lockhart Campus is a brand new facility and there may be teething issues along the way.

“If any parent/carer wishes to raise any issue with us, we will be more than happy to meet with them.”