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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the School overreacted in Expelling Pupil and calling Police for a stunt,when a "bollocking would have been enough".

941 replies

smokepole · 28/05/2014 09:57

Jacob Dowdle, a year 13 Pupil at Altrincham Grammar school on the last day of term May 16, put a paper plate with whipped cream in to his year heads face.

This was a very "Stupid" thing to do, but no harm was meant or injury caused yet the school called the Police and summary expelled him. The teacher was seeking a prosecution for the stunt, when she was not injured The teacher although upset , should have had the grace to except that it was a poor stunt , ( or like most teachers on the last day taken it on the chin as overexcited students behaviour).

OP posts:
Lottiedoubtie · 28/05/2014 10:12

I hope if I was a HT I'd have the sense to ignore it in the last week of term.

If you were my HT I'd expect you to have the sense to protect your staff despite it being the last week of term. There are funny pranks, there are non-dangerous pranks that are annoying but worth letting go, and then there are assaults on people at work.

As a teacher I'd might even participate in a good natured water fight/cream fight with year 13 at the end of their last term, if it was organised and the 'tone' was right. If on the other hand an aggressive young man smashed a cream pie in my face out of nowhere, whilst I was at work, I would consider it a police matter yes.

We don't/can't know the exact circumstances but given the teacher wanted a prosecution I would lean towards the aggressive scenario.

CoffeeandChocolateplease · 28/05/2014 10:13

Year 13? So he's 17/18 years old, an adult? I think it's time he learnt to behave himself.

Don't blame her in the slightest. As a teacher myself, I would find this humiliating and certainly wouldn't "take it on the chin" - would you allow it from another adult in your place of work? I don't think I personally would have called the police but I certainly wouldn't want to teach him again.

Dubjackeen · 28/05/2014 10:13

What a rotten thing to do. Hope he gets what he deserves.

Original poster
smokepole · 28/05/2014 10:14

Is it a case of the school and teacher taking themselves to seriously , especially as it was the last day. Nocomet you are quite right , we are all capable of doing things, that appear "Funny" when "Overexcited" . The teachers are aware that pupils whether 16/18 possibly need a little bit of guidance as to what is acceptable on the last day. They also need a little bit of slack given. The other way is to ban all "festivities" and just make the last day , a normal school day.

OP posts:
Goblinchild · 28/05/2014 10:14

Suspended rather than expelled I think.
Well, if he's finally learnt that actions have consequences, it will stand him in good stead for the future.

Delphiniumsblue · 28/05/2014 10:15

I would agree with RonaldMcDonald and Lottiedoubtie.
I would think it a police matter if someone did it to me in the street so I fail to see why teachers are supposed to think it 'a bit of fun'. ( different if staff and pupils had agreed to have slapstick and a choice of taking part)

EvilTwins · 28/05/2014 10:16

The school did the right thing.

He is an adult and his "sad face" story in the Daily Fail yesterday shows what an arse he is.

If it was reversed, and the Head of Year (which is what the teacher was) had gone round pranking kids on their last day, she is likely to have lost her job.

I have no sympathy for him, and YABU.

SpecialAgentFreyPie · 28/05/2014 10:18

What a nasty, horrid boy.
idiot ruined his own life because he thought he could get away with it.

BrianTheMole · 28/05/2014 10:18

Is it a case of the school and teacher taking themselves to seriously

Taking herself too seriously? Eh? She has got the right not to be asaulted and downplaying it by saying that is really not on.

ZenGardener · 28/05/2014 10:18

He hit her hard enough to break a china plate on her face. That had to have hurt. Poor woman Sad

WhereTheWildlingsAre · 28/05/2014 10:18

Smoke pole, teachers usually do.

Which suggests to me that the boy was more malicious about it (the filming it and putting it on FB is what got him expelled and that's a nasty thing to do and deserves the punishment).

'Its just a bit of fun' is a poor excuse for accepting behaviour that upsets the person on the receiving end.

thebodylovesspring · 28/05/2014 10:20

He's an adult ffs. He needs to grow up and understand boundaries and self control.

My lads a18 took the teachers to the pub.

Messing with cream sounds really childish, maybe 13 year olds would find this funny?

SmiteYouWithThunderbolts · 28/05/2014 10:21

I'm torn... On our last day, we did a whole load of stupid and probably (looking back) quite malicious pranks. Fairy liquid in the toilets, padlocking the teachers' car park, etc. I don't recall anything approaching physical assault on a teacher though.

Without having seen the video but gauging by the responses on here from those who have watched it, I suspect he crossed a line. It's right that students, whether 16 or 18, are taught that there are still boundaries even when it comes to japes on the last day of term, and if you go too far, there are consequences.

I can't imagine any employer tolerating pranks from an employee on their last day after all.

HappyMummyOfOne · 28/05/2014 10:21

School were spot on and well done that head.

I'm sure the teachers are used to pranks but doing that, running then humiliating her on FB are very wrong. Perhaps for once, he will realise his actions come with consequences, a lesson he should already know.

Pumpkinpositive · 28/05/2014 10:24

He looks an arrogant little scrote in the photo and nothing about his conduct since or what he says in the article leads me to conclude otherwise.

Back in the day, the school would not have called the police, no. But then, he probably wouldn't have been able to sit for a month after they - and his parents - had finished with him.

thegreylady · 28/05/2014 10:25

The boy was arrogant and stupid and the school acted appropriately. He is lucky he is being allowed to take his exams. It was shaving foam not cream.

echt · 28/05/2014 10:26

No sympathy for the silly boy.

He did it.

He ran away.

He didn't apologise.

He put in the interweb. For ever.

Why on earth should a teacher have to "take it on the chin" having taken it in the face?

I'd have wanted to punched his fucking lights out.

TheEnchantedForest · 28/05/2014 10:26

Agree, the school know the boy. if they are seeking prosecution it suggests that it was malicious rather than stupid. They know him-we don't.
I fully support the teacher and the Head. teachers should not have to tolerate abuse from anyone, let alone 17/18 year old men.
More school managers should support their staff in this way. I hope the parents at the school are behind them as well.

SnapeAndLily · 28/05/2014 10:28

Holy cow, the attitudes of some people on here shows exactly why behaviour is sometimes poor in schools.

I know that my HT would support any member of staff that had been assaulted - which is what this was.

Pumpkinpositive · 28/05/2014 10:28

Good pose for the Telegraph though!

If I was trying to convince the nation's press that I was a good, law abiding little Boy Scout, I'd certainly let them photograph me with my raised hand bunched into a fist. Hmm

SonorousBip · 28/05/2014 10:29

I suspect there is a backstory to this.

My gut feel about how the incident was viewed by the school will centre quite a lot around any "history" between the boy and the teacher. If it had been a one off from a child known to be good humoured and who afterwards was genuinely apologetic and remorseful, both to the school and to the individual teacher, I suspect the school would have let it go/imposed lesser sanctions. If it had been from a boy who had been in constant friction with the head of year and was seen as a deliberate and vindictive act, then probably not treated as a "joke".

The video on FB and the sad face in the Mail are probably both very ill advised. Chances of school climb down now I would think are somewhere around nil.

KrevlornswathoftheDeathwokClan · 28/05/2014 10:30

I'm a teacher and would have been very upset and angry about this. Its a deliberate undermining in front of students and the world on facebook. Very humiliating and upsetting. It would also have hurt and ruined her clothes. I probably would have run away and cried. Certainly police is appropriate for an assault from an adult or almost adult.

MrsJoeDolan · 28/05/2014 10:30

He broke a china plate on her face? And we should accept this in our classrooms?

How long ago was it when a teacher was stabbed to death in her classroom? Why is violence towards female staff now considered socially acceptable?

MyLatest · 28/05/2014 10:30

The school was absolutely right. By 18 he should know where the line is and not to cross it. He is very lucky he is being allowed to sit his exams. To treat a teacher with that kind of disrespect he should have been made to grovel to be allowed to return to school. The video should absolutely be removed from FB.

Goblinchild · 28/05/2014 10:33

From the video, it definitely breaks and bounces like a china plate rather than a paper one.

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