A mother felt cheated after a headteacher refused to allow her son to return to his school, even though she won an appeal for him to be readmitted.

Linda Campbell's son, Colin, 15, is staying at home instead of studying for his GCSEs after he was excluded from King Alfred's Community and Sports College, in Wantage, following a fight with another pupil in March.

Colin and Linda Campbell

Mrs Campbell, 34, of Humber Close, Wantage, appealed against the decision to exclude her son to an independent governors' discipline committee, which decided that Colin should be returned to the school roll.

Following the decision, the headteacher of King Alfred's, Bernard Clarke, said in a memo to staff that he was "too incensed to ask the reasons for the decision but can only assume they relate to technicalities".

Instead of allowing Colin to return to school, Mr Clarke referred him to the Orchard Pupil Referral Unit for problem students in Abingdon, but Mrs Clarke believes her son's education would suffer there.

She said: "We feel cheated. What was the point in going to the panel if the teachers do what they want anyway? I won the appeal but we're still the losers.

"I was so happy that Colin was going back to school but I won't send him to the Orchard.

"I can't understand why they expelled him in the first place.

"He has no history of serious violent behaviour and they expelled him for just kicking someone in the leg."

Mrs Clarke has now applied for Colin to attend John Mason School, in Abingdon.

Colin said he wants to be educated to A-Level so he can study to become an engineer.

He said: "Other children at the school say I'm not as bad as they thought and I can't see why they say I bully people when most of them are older and stronger than me."

Mr Clarke said Colin needed to be excluded to ensure the health and safety of other pupils at the school.

He said: "We only ever exclude a pupil with great reluctance on the basis of our professional judgement."

David Mankelow, a county council education officer, said Mr Clarke had the right to refer Colin to the Orchard Unit despite the panel's decision.