New Zealand minister allows bullying victim to transfer

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The Ministry of Education has agreed to override zoning rules to help a child into a new school because he was bullied at his previous school, in what appears to be a breakthrough for other bullied children.

The student's parents say their son, who is now 12, was bullied "almost daily" at Pakuranga Intermediate.

They pulled him out of the school after he was told by other children to "go and kill himself", and found another school that was willing to take him - but only if the ministry directed it to do so because the family is outside that other school's zone.

The ministry's Auckland staff refused to direct the other school to enrol him because they said the case did not have the required "exceptional circumstances".

Youthlaw senior solicitor Jennifer Walsh said the case was unusual because the ministry did not usually direct schools to accept students unless they had been excluded from other schools.

"We've had quite a few cases that have dealt with this, where parents have wanted to utilise this section, and I can't think of a single case where it's been successful," she said.

The Pakuranga boy has been diagnosed by a paediatrician as having "mild to moderate" autism. He started school with the language level of a 2-year-old and his parents were told that he would never lead a normal l

"He did have a really good support system at primary. They were so good with him," his mum said.

But when he went to Pakuranga Intermediate last year, he was "subjected to almost daily bullying", she said.

Girls "kicked him around like a soccer ball", a teacher "made fun of him", children called him a "ret*d".

He was pushed into a wall, scratched and slapped, jabbed in the ribs, had food shoved down his clothes, had his glasses smashed, and was dragged by his feet across a playing field and trapped in a net, needing an adult to rescue him.

"A week later he came to me and asked if he should just kill himself," Tracey Hill said. "He told me that the kids at school were telling him that's what he should do."

In an email to the ministry asking for help, the Hills wrote: "Repeated complaints to the school have not, and will not, change the culture of this school."