What Were These Loony Teachers On?

[Just-Jude]

11 year old sent home from school trip for eating chocolate!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5023786/Choc-n-nuts-Holli-sent-home-from-school-trip-for-eating-chocolate-bars.html

[emmie]

i read through that, does seem rather over the top, not to mention someone reading her private letters, how would that be right..

[marval]

That was ridiculous, all for a bar of chocolate.

[mikey4444]

Poor child. It wasn't as if she had secreted hashish or something similar. The Head Teacher should apologise with immediate effect.

[SlackAlice]

Gross over reaction from a jobsworth teacher/carer. Reading someone else's private letters smacks of censorship as well.

[elliemay1]

I thought it said at the end that the child could have stayed on but the parent decided to collect her.

[andy-hughes]

As usual, the Sun has spun this story for maximum Hate Bate effect, but if you check the last line, it is a telling one.

This child could have stayed on the trip, her mother elected to collect her, she was not 'sent home'.

Schools are buttoned up to the eyeballs with H & S regulations which if contravened can lead to individual legal responsibility for staff and governors.

So they enforce rules, which have been advised to parents, to the letter, even if they appear trivial to outside eyes.

I think you will find here is a lot more to this story than the Sun has bothered to explore - why let the whole truth get in the way of a national teacher-bate - just when they break up for those 'three month holidays'?

[DJHawkes]

the child was also stopped from joining in the trips to the theme park and would have spent the last day on her own at the digs, so fair dos to the mum, i'd have took her away too. the story says there was an agreement signed, what agreement is dinding from an 11 year old?

[zebo]

Well said andy-hughes.
The party and their parents were aware of the rules, but they never apply to My Child! It may seem an "overreaction" etc etc but had the girl had something with nuts in it for example and another child allergic to nuts ate some and became ill, no doubt the same detractors would be up on their hind legs.
The "loony teachers" these days are those who waste their time taking school trips!

[emmie]

couldn't the girl have been given a telling off, surely that would have been the smart move, perhaps there is more to the story, but if someone read her letter to her mother that i am afraid is a deal breaker.

[elliemay1]

Agree totally with Zebo. Blown up out of all proportion.

[meglet]

One of the commenters on the article seems to be in the know and said the "letter to mum" was actually an exercise and was always going to be read by the teacher. They also say she was disruptive, lied about having the chocolate when asked (hence the search). I can understand kids being banned from eating in their rooms. 1) they make a mess and 2) they should be asleep.

[Svejk]

Gawd, I've heard it all now. What if it had nuts? What if someone had an allergy? What if? What if?
Exactly the kind of crapola that leads to these disgusting situations.
And since when did it become OK to read peoples' mail in this country.
Give a bit of power to half-wits and this is what happens.

[meglet]

Honestly people moan constantly about kids these days having no discipline! Then when kids are disciplined they are accused of going over the top!!

[elliemay1]

I do think your comment is a bit over the top, svejk. Perhaps we should all reserve judgement until the full facts are known. But I don't think it's doing a child any favours by having her photo plastered over a newspaper.

[Tilly2]

What Were These Loony Teachers On?

Their last legs, probably.

[factor-fiction]

I think the Sun has put quite a lot of spin on this with the use of emotive language and twisting the facts to suit the story. It seems, for example, it was wrong to say she was sent home. Why did she go the press? What sort of relationship is she and the child going to have with the school now, I wonder.

[Gromit]

It seems rather sinister to me that private mail is intercepted and read by a third party. Does this happen for all 11 year olds mail? Was this girl singled out? What were the teachers hoping to find? It seems grossly over the top if it was to catch children eating sweets.

I also believe banning an 11 year old from eating chocolate on holiday is extremely strict. If her parents allow her to eat sweets then ishe should be able to do it.

[factor-fiction]

It has been said- although I don't know if it's correct- that the mail wasn't intercepted: the writing of a letter home was said to be a set exercise so teachers were going to read them afterwards

[LazyGun]

If that story is as it is reported, it is astonishing. How can they justify reading private letters, or searching luggage and rooms? All over a chocolate bar in their rooms.

I really find the response by the school and then the defence of the actions- searching rooms etc - by the Herts County Council farcical.

There has to be more to this story than as reported in the paper to justify the response of the teachers/ county council etc, surely?

[sherrardk]

There's more to this than the Sun is reporting - apparently she could have stayed if she agreed to be more closely supervised, she obviously didn't agree and the mother decided to collect her. I suspect that the letter was some sort of busy work that was more of an excerise than an actual private letter. Also, who told the newspapers?