SCHOOLS - CRIMES INVOLVING PUPILS, STAFF AND PARENTS
COUNT 7
I can’t recall a single case of violence occurring in my infants, juniors, or
primary schools, all of which were in north London. The closest I came to
it was on a cold winter’s day in Fleet Road, Hampstead when we made a
playground ‘slide’ on the ice. When it was time for me to have my second
go, I was racing halfway along it when another boy decided to kneel down
across the slide, right in my path. The result was predictable, I was
catapulted into the air, carried out an involuntary double somersault and
landed on my head on the hard playground tarmac. I was rushed to the
Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead and kept in bed in the Childrens’ Ward for
several days, suffering from concussion, and subsequently discharged with
little or no after effects. The boy responsible received a ticking-off from the
duty playground-minding teacher and that was the end of that. No threats
to sue the Education Authority, no racing round to the boy’s house by my
parents threatening to burn their house down, no police involvement, no
ruler taps on the open hand or thigh slap for the boy, no erection of razor
wire fences and electronic gates, pupil swipe cards, CCTV cameras – none
of that was required because common sense and respect for others
prevailed, and had been drilled into teachers and pupils alike, in those days.
What a happy world it was then, but successive governments over the years
have allowed liberalism and indiscipline to prevail in schools and
everywhere else.
Later on, between the ages of 11 and 16 years, I was lucky enough to have
passed my ‘Scholarship’ and attended a grammar school for boys in the
Romford area of Essex. The school had very strict discipline regimes in
place, involving the ultimate sanctions of receiving the cane from the Head
or Deputy Head. Other staff members punished unruliness by issuing orders
to write out lines, such as I must behave in class at all times etc., 50 or
100 times or more. One maths teacher dictated a line, or rather a
paragraph which ran into four-five lines of an exercise book, to be written
out the designated number of times. The only way to cope with this
imposition was to secure three or more pens together with string or elastic
bands! Some other male teachers imposed corporal punishment, by literally
boxing your ears. One absolute sadist, a french master, if you offended,
even by just not listening, would stride purposefully over to your desk.
Whilst you were seated, he would take hold of the hair of your sideboards,
shake your whole head and neck and slowly drag you to your feet, and then
all of the way down again to the seated position. I was a recipient of this
barbarism at least once, so I can still recall the extreme pain level. This
really was what is now described as cruel and inhumane treatment, as your
head hurt and your eyes literally watered, for just about the rest of the
lesson. When you saw this cruelty being applied to another boy, there was
a hushed silence in the classroom. I have to admit it was an effective
deterrent to us all, to behave ourselves in his lessons.
This school had the advantage of running its own CCF (Combined Cadet
Force) with Army, Naval and RAF sections. With friends I joined the Army
section and received my uniform and was disciplined by some school
masters who were officers and wore the appropriate uniforms with pips or
stars on the epaulettes.
We paraded often and went away on Army courses in the school holidays,
attended Army camps under canvas and received all the appropriate badges
and promotional stripes etc. All of this gave us a great sense of purpose in
life, and a spirit of discipline and comradeship and kept us off the streets.
Concurrently to this, I joined a local boys marching band at Romford, and
received yet another uniform for my mother to press. Sometimes, on
occasions such as Remembrance Day parades, I was undecided as to which
unit’s uniform to put on, so as not to let the other side down. Membership
of these military-style organisations, as a child and youth, later steered me
into joining the Royal Marines on a regular engagement. Here I received the
best discipline training of my life – and never looked back.
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Please read on to compare what used to happen in schools, to what
happens now, in the years 2004 and 2005.
Furious teachers are threatening to strike because their school has been
told it must take back a teenager who was kicked out after attacking a
member of staff. This is the latest in a long line of school decisions being
overturned by appeal panels, despite pledges by the Government to back
the teachers. Ta’Lisha Edwards, 14, was permanently excluded from Becket
comprehensive, a Roman Catholic school in Wilford, Nottingham, for
slapping a teacher on the arm and being abusive. An independent appeal
panel’s decision to overturn the head teacher’s ruling has now led to staff
refusing to teach her, and may end in an official industrial dispute. More
than 1,000 pupils will be affected if the 63 teachers go ahead with the move.
The teachers say that their authority is being undermined and safety
jeopardised. At least 10 teachers are refusing to teach the girl and are
looking for support from the rest of the staff. All will be balloted about the
next move and unions are not ruling out the possibility of strikes. The local
education authority says Ta’Lisha could be moved to a different school if the
dispute grows. It added, “We are liaising with the school and the family to
agree a way forward.” But their actions might prove to be too little too late
after all three of the main teaching unions slated the appeal panel decision
for undermining teachers. The NUT’s Brian Helliwell said, “Ta’Lisha’s
expulsion was a last resort following a series of unacceptable incidents.
The exclusion had not come out of the blue. He added, “These appeal panels
don’t know anything about schools or education. Teachers and pupils have
a right to be free of violence.” Ta’Lisha’s mother Cecilia, 42, claimed her
daughter was the victim, not the troublemaker and was only guilty of
“cheek.” Mrs Edwards added: “My daughter loved going to school, now I
have to force her to go. She is due to start GCSEs in September and there’s
no compromise yet about her proper education.” Ta’Lisha allegedly slapped
a male teacher on the arm and shouted a torrent of abuse during a lunch
break disturbance. Her family appealed against the punishment, arguing it
was too harsh. The panel agreed.
Since the end of the half-term holiday, Ta’Lisha has been banned from
classes, after teachers refused to have her in their lessons. Instead they
have prepared study material for her and marked her work, leaving her
supervised by an assistant. Ta’Lisha said: “It’s not fair, I want to stay at the
school. If I’m not taught by the teacher concerned then fair enough, but I
don’t see why all the teachers should get involved.” Unions have long been
critical of the appeals system, arguing it undermines Heads’ powers.
National Association of Head Teachers general secretary David Hart said: “
The appeal panels are increasingly acting irresponsibly and this is yet
another example. They are making outrageous decisions and I can
understand why teachers are up in arms. They show pupils they can assault
teachers with impunity. These panels don’t live in the real world.”
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A man was fighting for his life after he was attacked while attending a school
reunion in the car park at Belmont School in Chiswick, W.London. Richard
Walters, 20, was hit over the head with an 8-foot wooden stake, after he and
some friends had been in an argument with a group of teenagers.
A school bus carrying children as young as 11 was raided for drugs by police
with sniffer dogs, at the Oldbury Wells School, Bridgnorth, Shropshire, just
before 9am on 11th June 2004. More than 20 officers were waiting for the
bus to arrive at the school. The 40 pupils on board were offered an amnesty
from arrest, if they handed over any drugs before being escorted off the bus
and filmed by police CCTV. Officers, acting on information that some
children were selling-on drugs to other pupils, carried out searches in the
grounds of the 1,000-pupil, mixed school. No drugs were found but police
later claimed the operation had been a success.
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A Head Teacher called in police when 100 pupils rioted after they were told
they could not wear shorts. The 14 and 15-year-olds staged a demo after
their request to ditch long trousers during hot weather was refused. When
the protest spilled out of Rhyl High School, North Wales, onto the street,
Head Mike Williams called in the police. Mr Williams said, “It wasn’t a protest, it was a riot.”Eight pupils were suspended. Joanne Dalziel, whose 13-year-old daughter Paige took part in the demo said, “The head overreacted.”
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A gang of 50 screaming schoolgirls clashed with police at a train station as
an operation to check tickets spiralled into chaos. Passengers watched in
disbelief as the girls, aged between 12 and 17, turned on eight British
Transport police officers like a pack of screaming banshees. In what was
described as a scene out of St Trinian’s gone wrong, one girl attacked an
officer with an ironing board, as the police found themselves pressed as they
tried to stop the group boarding a train. The battle broke out when pupils
arrived at the station to find the hapless officers waiting to check tickets.
Around 50 girls, who police say had no tickets, tried to rush the platform to
board a waiting train at New Beckenham station in South London, while
friends held the doors open. Officers tried to stop the crowd and violence
erupted when two of the girls were grabbed. While one attacked with the
ironing board, others leapt on the back of officers as they tried to arrest
others.
HER MAJESTY'S YOUNG OFFENDERS INSTITUTION, HUNTERCOMBE,
nr Nettlebed, Oxon - an All-Juvenile Establishment for young male convicts only
Girls already on the train pulled communication handles to stop it
leaving. They were all pupils from Cator Park School for Girls, and were
wearing a uniform of grey skirts, white blouses and blazers. Detective
inspector Karl Skrzypiec said: “It was a very volatile situation, like
something out of St Trinian’s gone wrong. These girls were like screaming
banshees. There was a huge amount of swearing, scratching, kicking and
pushing. They were screaming so much abuse the officers couldn’t use their
radios to call for back-up. We managed to get the two arrested girls to a
police van. They were screaming that they were going to be raped.”
Met police reinforcements arrived on the scene during the incident, as did
Merrill Davies, Head of the 1,300 pupil school, and they managed to calm
the furore. Ms Davies said: “The school is investigating what happened. If
the behaviour of any girls fell below the high standard we expect of them,
we will be taking firm action involving their parents.” Mr Skrzypiec denied
the officers had been racist or heavy-handed. He said: “The girls perceived
it to be a racist attack. I can only surmise it was because most of them were
black. But anyone without a ticket wasn’t allowed on the platform. I think
the officers showed remarkable restraint when confronted by the situation.”
But former teacher John Fowler said: “If the police hadn’t been there, there
wouldn’t have been a riot. You don’t treat teenage girls like that, certainly
not in south London. Officers are examining CCTV footage to try to identify
the ringleaders. The two arrested girls have been bailed.
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