A father claims the Clarendon Academy in Trowbridge is trying to move his son who he says is being bullied, to another school.

Marcus Neal claims Ealy, 11, has been attacked several times by other pupils since starting at the school last September.

The latest incident took place when Ealy was allegedly assaulted on the Tuesday before school broke up for the two-week Easter break.

Marcus, 40, of Broad Street, said: “He is being physically and mentally bullied by a group of boys in his year.

“The school don’t seem to care or have any plan for moving forward or stopping it from happening again. I’ve been in different meetings with various members of staff and there’s never a resolution to the problems.

“The school are also trying to put him on a managed move to a different school for ‘bad behaviour’ although he isn’t a naughty child and is the one being bullied.”

Mr Neal claims his son was attacked in September and threatened in October, leading to him taking a metal file from a Design and Technology class for his own protection. The file was later returned to the school.

Ealy, who is in Year 7, has recently been diagnosed as suffering from autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Mr Neal wants him to stay in mainstream education whereas Clarendon, which is part of the Acorn Education Trust, which also runs Kingdown School in Warminster, wishes to move him into its special needs education centre.

The school believes that Ealy is unable to cope with mainstream education and say he may prosper in a SEND setting.

Deputy head teacher David Cade said: “We strenuously deny that this student is being bullied, or that we are attempting to manage move any student who is the victim of bullying. That notion goes against our culture as a school.

“We do from time to time change a student’s provision, but this is for learning reasons, and never because they are the victim of bullying. We do our best at Clarendon to resolve every situation when teenagers fall out, and we work tirelessly on restorative conversations.

“We know from a regular parent survey that over 97 per cent of our parents would recommend this school to another parent. Even more encouraging, over 99 per cent of parents answered strongly agree or agree to the statement: ‘My child is happy at this school’.

He said: “Unfortunately, this silent, supportive majority are not present on the social media thread that appeared on Spotted in Trowbridge.We have lots of safety nets in place at Clarendon to support students, and ensure they are safe and looked after.”