A ten-year-old boy tried to take his own life after being bullied by racists at his school.

One teacher told Caleb Hills that he needed to build a ‘resilience to racism’ as he faced a barrage of abuse from pupils who called him the ‘n-word’ for two years.

There were almost 200 ‘racial incidents’ recorded at the Orchard School in Canterbury, Kent, in the two years when Caleb studied there.

Records show the primary school only has four pupils of mixed ethnic background out of 101 students.

His mum Tyler Hills has accused the school of failing to protect her son, and now the council have offered to pay for private education for the youngster.

Tyler said her son, who is mixed race, was made to sit and accept his bullies’ apology as they paid ‘lip service’ to the school’s behaviour system.

As the bullying continued, Tyler said her ‘bubbly’ and ‘talkative’ boy ‘changed dramatically’.

He grew anxious and reluctant to go to school before eventually trying to hang himself last summer.

The mum-of-four said: ‘I found him in his bedroom. I felt sick to the pit of my stomach, and helpless.

‘He said, “They keep calling me mean things, they’re not nice to me, I keep telling the teachers but they’re not listening.”

Tyler, 46, of Chartham, Kent, removed Caleb from the school in May after the suicide attempt, saying staff they had ‘more than enough time’ to resolve the bullying.

The youngster, who has a range of learning disabilities, is now out of education and taking antidepressants.

Recalling how Caleb first told her he had been called the n-word,

Tyler said her ‘gut dropped’ when Caleb asked her what the n-word means.

She said: ‘I thought, “How dare you allow my child to be treated like that?”

‘I’ve got to sit here and explain to him what this means. He’s a baby – I shouldn’t have to be going through all this, not at this age.

‘The school’s pastoral manager told me Caleb needed to build a resilience to racism.

‘I said: “Excuse me” he never needs to build a resilience to it and he backtracked.

‘We are in the 2019 and schools should be at the forefront of cracking down on racism, not condoning it under the guise of special needs.

‘It may be the reason for it but it’s not an excuse.’

Caleb said other pupils would use derogatory racial slurs both near him and aimed directly at him.

He said: ‘It made me angry and upset because I know what the n-word actually means.

‘I didn’t want to go to school because they harassed me all day.’

Jim Simon, CEO of the Restorative Justice Council, said the large number of racial incidents recorded at the school ‘suggest the current systems in place are not having the desired impact.’

Tyler, who is now Caleb’s full-time carer, fears it will be another year before a space is found for him at an appropriate special needs school.

She added: ‘He will not return to any school run by Kent County Council (KCC).

‘Having him out of school means I am looking after him 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

‘I love my child dearly, but I need a break and he needs an education.’

Kent County Council has agreed to pay for Caleb to attend an independent school.

The Orchard School’s head teacher Annabel Lilley said: ‘School staff, governors, the local authority and I worked extensively with Caleb’s mother to try to bring about a solution that Ms Hills would be satisfied with and that would enable him to remain here.

‘Caleb was well-liked and was doing well and we are sorry he is no longer a part of our school community.’

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