Hills International College rocked by special needs discrimination claims made by parents

‘Livid’ parents have pulled their students from a Brisbane private school which has been accused of discriminating against young students with learning difficulties.

A Brisbane private school has denied it discriminates against special needs students after parents claimed their young children were unfairly treated and have pulled their enrolments.

Jimboomba’s Hills International College, whose motto is “a place to belong”, has come under fire by former parents who said it has an enrolment policy that discriminates against children with learning difficulties.

Hills’ principal Kevin Lynch denied the claims and said it had an “all encompassing” enrolment policy which was in no way selective.

Mr Lynch said the policy was under review and that parents were asked to disclose any learning needs on enrolment.

He said the school accepted students of all nations, irrespective of religious beliefs, gender and needs.

A mother of a neurodiverse six-year-old boy who she said he was expelled for punching a child in the hip and elbowing another in the mouth, claimed he was discriminated against for having learning difficulties.

The mother said she was initially told by the school that her child was “no longer welcome” and was told to “collect his things from the classroom” and then was offered to voluntarily withdraw him.

Parents have claimed their children were unfairly discriminated by Hills International College and have pulled them from the Logan school. Picture: File

The mother said her child has impulse control problems, which she felt the school used to unfairly discriminate against him.

“It’s really awful. They didn’t even give us a chance to get supports in place,” she said.

“I was livid.”

Mr Lynch said on occasion, students “unfortunately” breached the student code of conduct which may ultimately end in the parting of ways.

Another parent, whose son who has autism spectrum disorder and who was on a scholarship at the school in semester one, was told the scholarship would not carry into the second semester due to behavioural reasons.

An email from the school to the parent, obtained by The Courier-Mail, stated the boy “will need to improve some of his choices and behaviours to be commensurate with a scholarship holder”.

“(The child) will require to be a sound role model for others in the college community and uphold appropriate behaviours at all times,” it read.

The parent said they did not feel welcome at the school.

“To be labelled not a role model. He’s six. Show me a perfect six-year-old,” the parent said.

Mr Lynch said there was an “extremely” large proportion of very satisfied parents at the college.

“We accept enrolments from students of all nations, and irrespective of religious beliefs, gender and needs,” Mr Lynch said.

“If the school finds that the needs of the student cannot be met, parents are informed.

“There are a large number of students enrolled at the college with learning needs requiring support. I categorically state that no child has been discriminated against based upon needs, and no parent has raised this with the school directly.”

A copy of the school’s former enrolment policy, which was removed from its website but obtained by The Courier-Mail, showed the school had “limited resources” to “provide special needs for particular students”.

“Parents must inform the college of all special needs of the student which may be relevant to the education or welfare of the student,” the policy read.

“If the parent fails to inform the college of any special needs in relation to the student, the college reserves the absolute discretion to refuse or terminate the student’s enrolment.”

When asked whether the school had changed its enrolment policy, Mr Lynch said the policy was under review to avoid confusion for prospective parents.

“I would add that Hills College has a very good reputation of acceptance of all members of the community, regardless of race, gender identity, religious beliefs, and other characteristics that may find problems enrolling at other schools,” he said.

The mother whose child was expelled said she had since placed him at a different school where he was now thriving.

“He is highly intelligent but he can’t control his impulses sometimes, now that we have support in place things have massively improved,” she said.

“I don’t understand why the school didn’t make more of an effort.”

According to MySchool, Hills had a student body of 466 in 2020 and on average charged $7200 per student. It also has a non refundable application fee of $110 for online enrolments.