Mum in legal battle to stop pupils going back

A MUM is bringing a legal challenge against the Government to stop all pupils being forced back to school next month.

Single parent Jennifer Dunstan, 40, is pursuing a judicial review to demand parents be given the right to choose.

She fears for son Rio, nine, who has Asperger’s and an emotional age of two, at his special needs school, where he asks for at least 25 hugs a day.

Jennifer faces a

£120 fine for keeping him away but says: “I’ll live on beans on toast to pay if I have to.”

She is among thousands who do not want to send their children back to class, with some deregistering their kids and opting to teach them at home.

Jennifer, who has chronic fatigue condition ME, said: “I am terrified of catching this virus. I can’t send Rio to my elderly parents. So if I get poorly now, he would have to go into care.”

She launched her legal challenge after her petition calling for a U-turn on sending all children back next month topped 100,000 signatures.

A Letter Before Claim, signed by Jennifer, will be served at Downing Street this week. The Government will have days to respond before Jennifer decides whether to proceed.

Also, Sam Vincent-Hunt is uprooting her family from Coventry and moving to Ireland, calling the fines “the last straw”.

She has enrolled daughter Indie, nine, in a class of seven kids in County Kerry.

Auditor Sam said: “This is hard but I have to do what is safest. I don’t want the Government using my kids as an experiment.”

Amy Wolfs has decided to teach daughter Evie, five, at home because she says she cannot afford to be fined.

Amy, 31, of Shrewsbury, said: “I don’t want Evie in a classroom with 29 other pupils when I know some parents have attended house parties.” She fears husband Dave, 40, who has multiple sclerosis, will be put at risk.

MOVING Sam with daughter Indie, nine