A head teacher at a Bradford primary school has apologised after an autistic pupil was sent home with a letter taped to his chest.

David Hawkes’s mum Shelley said her 11-year-old son was “publicly humiliated” when a teacher at Home Farm Primary School, off Cooper Lane, Buttershaw, used sticky tape to fix the letter to his jumper.

Mrs Hawkes said her son had forgotten to take home a permission slip for a school trip, then joked to his teacher: “Why don’t you stick it on me and I’ll remember it.”

He was then hauled in front of the class and made to hold the note in place while his female teacher and other pupils wound tape around him.

Mrs Hawkes said: “They were all laughing at him.

“They humiliated him in front of his classmates. He’s a vulnerable child.

“They used half a roll of tape by the time they finished.

“My heart broke when I saw him. I couldn’t believe anyone would do that to an autistic child.”

Mrs Hawkes said she sent head teacher John MacDonald a photograph of David with the note taped to him and demanded an explanation.

She said he responded by saying: “I feel sick looking at it. I can’t offer you any explanation.”

In a statement about the incident, Mr MacDonald said: “We apologised and worked closely with the family to assure them it would never happen again.”

Bradford Council is understood to have held an inquiry but Mrs Hawkes said it refused to share the findings with her.

Last month, the Telegraph & Argus revealed the anger of a mum and dad whose three-year-old son was allowed to wander out of the nursery at Home Farm school.

Blake Ormondroyd was found in a snicket next to Westwood Park housing estate between ten and 15 minutes after walking out of the school.

His parents Gregg Ormondroyd and Donna Rhodes took him out of the nursery and vowed he would not go back there.

Mr MacDonald said new processes had been put in place at the school after the incident to prevent it happening again.

“The safety of all children at Home Farm Primary School is of paramount importance to us,” he said.