But all that changed three years ago. The 11-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, began fearing to go to Sunbury West Primary School.

Monique's mum Sandy Turner eventually decided late last year to move Monique from the school.

"Everything went really, really well for the first couple of years of mainstream school. The teachers were fantastic," Ms Turner said.

"By the end of grade one, Monique was fabulous. She would talk to people and have her head up.

"Then unfortunately when she came to grade two ... things just kept getting worse and worse and her spot was in the corner. She was excluded from PE.

"We had meeting after meeting with the school, talking about what the specialists had recommended.

"It got to the point last year she was too scared to go to school. She was wetting the bed; her personality was shrinking."

Ms Turner made the tough decision to move her daughter to a new school.

She said she was told that Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School didn't have the facilities to cope with Monique's disability.

With no school in Sunbury able to deal with Monique's needs, Ms Turner enrolled her at Glenroy Specialist School, 40 kilometres away.

"That highlights the shortage of schooling in the area for people like Monique. Some days we're spending four hours just to get her to and from school. It would be lovely to have [a specialist school] somewhere [in Sunbury] which caters for her needs.

"There also needs to be better monitoring of what happens in schools dealing with kids with disabilities."

However, Sunbury and Macedon Ranges Specialist School principal Joanne Nolan said the school would welcome Monique.

An Education Department spokeswoman said: "Students with disabilities, including those with cerebral palsy, can and do attend both mainstream schools and special schools.

"The department never tolerates discrimination and any allegation of discrimination is always investigated.

"The Sunbury Macedon Ranges Specialist School caters for students with intellectual disabilities, which can include students with physical disabilities."