A mother is furious after she received a letter from her son’s school criticising his attendance, despite the fact he had been fighting a deadly illness.

Vicky Tassari, from Gravesend, was shocked when she opened the correspondence from Northfleet Technology School in Colyer Road complaining her son’s attendance was “in a worrying state”.

Vicky, 35, said: “I was disgusted to receive it. He has had a stem cell transplant and is lucky to be alive.”

After contacting the school, Vicky was told it was an administrative error and the letter should never have been sent.

But she was fuming when the head teacher phoned her for the first time over the incident and she felt he wasn’t very understanding.

She said: “He had not been in touch since Louie was first ill. He has never once rung to ask how he is doing.

“His attitude was unbelievable. He clearly only cares about attendance.”

Vicky said there was no one more concerned about the lessons her son has missed than her.

She said: “I have asked the school if there is anything we can do to help him catch up at home or if there is anything he should be doing when he’s at school to help bring him up to date.

‘He is lucky to be alive’

“I didn’t want him to stay at home. There is no one more worried than me about his attendance.

“I wanted him to go back as soon as possible.”

Louie, 13, was forced to miss almost all of Year 8 after he fell ill while on holiday with his family in Montenegro last August and was later diagnosed with very severe aplastic anaemia – a rare condition where the bone marrow stops producing enough red blood cells.

He underwent 30 blood transfusions and was forced to live a lockdown-style existence away from his family and friends amid fears his body was unable to fight off infection. Only his mum was allowed near him.

The schoolboy spent months in and out of hospital with several complications, which included his blood failing to clot and losing 30% of his bodyweight.

Eventually, he had chemotherapy to rid his body of old blood cells and, after an excruciating wait for a donor, he underwent a stem cell transplant.

He was ready to start back last September but Vicky says the school played a part in his low attendance after delaying his return in Year 9.

She said: “In July I told them he would be able to start a phased return in September. I said he would have a Hickman Line, so they would need to train staff and put risk assessments in place.”

A Hickman Line is a tube inserted into a large vein that leads to the heart and is used to administer medication or take blood. It must not get infected.

But, the day before Louie was due to start back, Vicky got a call to say he would not be able to come in as the school was not ready.

“I was so angry,” she said. “I had given them plenty of time. Louie had been building up to this moment for months. He was so looking forward to seeing his friends and getting back to some normality.

“The beginning of a new school year was the ideal time for him to start back.”

Vicky was insistent that she would bring him in anyway but the school said it could not allow him to attend lessons until provision had been made.

“That took another three or four weeks,” Vicky said. “It was so frustrating.

“They were contributing to his poor attendance and then have the front to send this letter.”

Since then Louie has been at school part-time, building up the hours he spends there as his repairing immune system means he gets tired quickly.

“It’s exhausting growing a new immune system,” his mum said.

‘There is no one more worried than me about his attendance’

It also means he is susceptible to infection and must have all his vaccinations again. So attending school is risky for him.

“He has to sit by an open window,” Vicky said. “If someone has a known virus he must keep away from them.”

He now stays until lunchtime but is hoping to do full days from next term which starts on June 3.

The school was approached for comment three times and a member of staff said our email had been received but nobody had responded to our queries at the time of writing.