Parents have spoken out after seven children – some with behavioural difficulties – were suspended from school on the same day.

The group, all in Year 4 at Richmond Primary Academy in Sheerness, were not allowed into lessons after a fight and were instead told to stand in the field.

Susan Haddy’s nine-year-old son, Aidan, has severe ADHD and was one of those suspended.

She said: “They were just told to stand out there. They were then excluded for three-and-a-half days for being disruptive.”

Ms Haddy, of St Helen’s Road, said the children were “allowed to do what they wanted” in the field while a teaching assistant “stood back and watched”.

She claimed a crackdown on bad behaviour was “discriminating against the disabled”.

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Tracey McIntyre, whose daughter Chloe has speech and hearing problems and was also suspended, said: “She’s always getting in trouble over little things because they can’t be bothered with her and the others.”

Laura Sheehan said her son Ritchie-Jay was also suspended: “When I picked him up, he broke down in tears and was crying for a good hour.

“The school said he physically attacked another child and I’ve been told that if you don’t like it then take him somewhere else.

“They don’t support children with disabilities – I’ve never seen the Senco (special educational needs co-ordinator).”

Richmond is part of the Stour Academy Trust. A spokesman confirmed there had been an incident resulting in “a number of pupils being given a short fixed-term exclusion”.

He said: “The behaviour of the children, some with a diagnosis of ADHD or autism, fell well below an acceptable standard of behaviour.

“The children were supervised in a safe place, away from other children, whose learning was disrupted, until the parents of the excluded children arrived to collect them.

“All parents concerned were fully informed of the reasons for exclusion, as was the local authority, which is standard practice.”

The trust denied there was a crackdown on behaviour and would not comment on what had led to the suspension.

It said senior staff spoke to all parents and the head is due to meet them “at the end of the exclusion period”.

He added: “The trust has a strong track record of supporting SEN children.

“These exclusions will provide the school with the opportunity to put additional provision in place to address the children’s complex behavioural needs.”