Brave teenager devastated as school issues prom ban
A TEENAGE girl recovering from a face cancer operation was left devastated after being banned from attending her school prom in Runcorn.
Alex Dallas, 16, claimed the school were discriminating against her after allegedly deciding she was too ‘mentally unstable’ to attend.
She had been through a 12-hour operation last December to remove part of a tumour on her head after she was diagnosed with a rare cancer as a toddler.
The Year 11 pupil at Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy is now in the clear, but has suffered with anxiety and depression since the surgery.
She has been schooled at home and at a special training centre, but was looking forward to attending the prom to mark the end of her time at the school. But she was devastated when she heard the school had set conditions for her to go.
The school said: “We wanted to make sure attending the event was in the best ● interests of this student, and indeed her fellow students.
“Because she had not been into school for six months, we asked her to come in for one hour a day over a two-week period before the prom, so we could make an assessment and so she could interact with other students. Unfortunately she did not do so and so we reluctantly took the decision that it would not be right for her to attend the event.”
Alex, from Runcorn, said she would have been happy to have a proper psychological assessment, but said the school never actually offered one.
She said: “I was upset I couldn’t go. It upset me to say I’m mentally unstable – I’m not. People shouldn’t discriminate for something they don’t understand.”
Mum Sam Mattison, 39, said: “The school have really let her down, considering what she’s been through.
“There’s been no psychological assessment offered - they’re talking s***.”