Brody McDonald had been counting the days until he started school.
It was the day after his fifth birthday when Brody finally got to take his new school bag with a baby shark bag tag he picked out himself off the hook where it had been waiting for weeks.
Wearing his uniform for the first time, Brody's mum Haylee McDonald explained to him this proper "big boy school" as he prepared to enter the school gates.
What she couldn't explain to him was how a seemingly perfect start to his schooling was about to abruptly end.
Brody is autistic and his parents reached out to Woodville School located in the small town east of Palmerston North after hearing from other parents with autistic children how the school was so accepting and accommodating to their children's needs.
Haylee and her husband Leon approached the school in June while it was under a former principal, who told her Brody would be supported. However, there was an issue raised that the school did not have a fence and Brody has a history of taking off when gates are left open.
"He just wants to know what's out there. He's never run away from us for the point that he doesn't want to be where he is, he's just very curious and we love that about him," Haylee said.
The principal at the time told the parents a fence is already in the process of being built through funding from the Ministry of Education to support another student with a history of running off also due to start at the school.
While the fence is not expected to be finished until February next year, at a meeting with the school in October a detailed safety plan on how to respond if Brody leaves school grounds was revised, which included calling his family.
Brody was also approved for funding for a full-time teacher aide to work one-on-one with him, at least until the end of term one next year.
He started attending transitional visits with the school and his older brother Jackson transferred from his school to Woodville school.
Haylee was set to return to work from maternity leave on October 31 and a start date for Brody of October 25th was decided on.
The first day of school
Haylee took an excited Brody off to school dressed in his uniform under the presumption he was enrolled.
As planned, he only attended school until 11:40am to help him settle in.
"When I picked him up he did not want to come home, he was quite happy," Haylee said.
Brody's teacher told Haylee his day was "more settled, still busy, but more engaged" which she said was a win.
"All afternoon he talked about Woodville School room six because he was in room six and his communication isn't flash but little sentences like that we are starting to get," Haylee said.
They rang his grandparents to tell them all about his first day and then went to bed ready for a slightly longer day of school tomorrow.
The following day Haylee and Leon, who had the day off work, dropped Brody off at school early so he could play on the playground.
Brody ran into school, excited to show his dad where his bag tag was.
"He showed Leon and was saying 'Brody's bag tag, Brody's bag tag'," Haylee said.
As Leon was hanging Brody's bag up with him, the Deputy Principal approached Halee asking if the pair could attend a meeting just before they pick Brody up.
The pair were relaxed as they walked into the meeting because they thought things were going really well, but as soon as they sat down they were told there had been "multiple issues".
Haylee was shocked to learn Brody had left the school boundary twice.
She questioned why she had not been informed of Brody's escape despite clear instructions to call her if he ran away, to which the principal said they were not informed until this morning.
The principal told her they had a meeting with the Board of Trustees the night before and cancelled Brody's enrollment until the fence has been built, Haylee said.
At that point, Haylee, who was in tears, stood up and left to go take Brody and Jackson home.
She was now left with the predicament of either quitting her job with three days' notice or finding last-minute childcare for a child with a disability.
Woodville School principal Wes Va'ai-Wells told Newshub he could not comment on individual children or families due to privacy obligations but acknowledged they are currently working through the issues as quickly as they can.
"What we can say is that the Board and the senior teaching team see safety as their number one priority. We must be able to provide a safe environment for the tamariki we are responsible for," Va'ai-Wells said in a statement.
"Where we have a safety issue, the responsible thing to do is make sure that we manage that risk appropriately, for the benefit of all those involved. We think this is in line with the expectations of Worksafe NZ, health and safety legislation and the Ministry of Education.
"We are working through these issues as quickly as we reasonably can. We recognise that's not everyone's preferred option but, in the interests of safety, we believe this is the right decision for the school to make in the circumstances. The focus should now be on implementing the workable solutions we've identified."
The Ministry of Education Southern Leader Nancy Bell told Newshub the Ministry is working with the school board and the whānau to resolve this situation.
"We have advised the board of their enrolment responsibilities under the Education and Training Act (2020). The act guarantees the right for enrolment for all students regardless of learning support needs," Bell said.
"We have asked the board to reconsider their decision to decline the enrolment."
Haylee and Leon spent the remainder of the day contacting daycares and other schools in the area but everywhere was either full, didn't have a fence or was on a ballot.
They are now paying someone privately to take care of Brody until the situation is resolved, leaving the young family in a tough financial position.
'He is so upset'
Haylee said when Brody saw his brother Jackson later return to school in his uniform he ran to his room and got his uniform out chanting "Woodville room six".
"That broke my heart, he cried and he cried and he cried," Haylee said. "He is so upset, every morning he asks me to go to school."
She said they had to explain to him there will be no more room six for a while and to which he responded "how many sleeps?"
"If I could tell him a number it would make his life and my life so much easier but I can't tell him anything I don't if or where he is going to go," Haylee said.
She said they have a right to send Brody to school and if he can't go to school someone must be held accountable.
"He is a five-year-old who was born different into a country where we say we are diverse and we accept everyone, but we accept everyone apart from the kids who are a bit hard."
A recent report from the Government agency Education Review Office found disabled learners are often facing exclusion from education, with one in five parents having been discouraged from enrolling their disabled child at a local school.
"Disabled children have the same rights to enrol and receive a good education as other learners and we know that a quality education can change their lives. But disabled learners are being let down time and time again," the report said.
Haylee said she will continue to fight for Brody to receive his legal obligation to education.
"He is the middle child and I think sometimes the middle child is the poor forgotten one but he is honestly the rock that holds our family together. Above all else, we have to fight for him," she said.
"I don't want him to lead a normal life, I want him to have an extraordinary life."
