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

[smokepole]

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).

Count me in-I support the teacher.

Teacher support is a brilliant point of support for all of us teachers who are finding the profession a struggle. I can personally recommend it (sadly).

I support the teacher.
The silence at the end of the video says it all. The vindictive laughs stop and they all realise that it has gone too far.
The interview on NWT last night did him no favours. As for the "entrepreneur" who is supporting him - pathetic

Stupid lack of judgment by boy. But should not be career threatening.

Count me in too.

Don't worry, xplodem, it won't do him a bit of harm in his career.
There are enough chaps out there who are ex-members of rugby, football and Bullingdon-club type social groups and are now employers. They will see his little jape in the right light and ensure that he will always have a place that he feels at home. Where giving a woman a slap, or making her the butt of a humiliating and painful joke is just light-hearted fun.
Feminism is one of the movements working to change that, but it's a very slow process. He should be fine for the next several decades.

Xplodem. I felt the same until I delved a little bit further and categorically changed my mind as to what the correct sanction was. I also would like to apologize for two things , first for playing devil's advocate as to why Lawence Jones would have offered a job to him. the second thing I would like to say sorry for is for taking the word of a boy who is milking a situation for his own ends, this goes to show he shows no remorse for the attack. The other point is that this incident happened 13 days ago, so after the initial "Bravado" that comes from (immaturity) , he would wake up and be ashamed of his actions and seek to remove this sorry episode from his life, instead he sees himself as a "poster boy" for the disenchanted youth and his milking it for all its worth. This truth is so far removed from reality, he was lucky enough to have been educated in one of the state system's best schools as well as benefiting from a affluent upbringing in one of the North West's most salubrious towns.

The contrast to Stephen Sutton and his heroic efforts, for the teenage cancer trust could not be displayed any clearer , I say this because Jason Manford did great work in supporting and getting notice for Stephen's efforts. Jason Manford has clearly made an error of judgement in supporting or advising Jacob Dowdle in any way ( maybe like me he was unaware of what really happened and believed it was a funny attack on a humourless teacher.

The fine line between end of year pranks and common assault and/or vandalism has been crossed way too often, sometimes with awful consequences. I can't imagine what it must be like for someone to go to work and feel physically and/or emotionally threatened. I really do hope there are serious consequences that make all schools rethink their stance on pranks. Having seen the video in question, I wholeheartedly support the teacher in this instance because of everything tiggytape has said. MNHQ please would you facilitate the platform to make our feelings known to a wider audience please?

Kid really does sound like an entitled arse and as others have said is not doing himself any favours. I would wholeheartedly support the teacher in this case - I wouldn't have any bloody sense of humour as far as he went either.
As part of the wider picture I am really shocked that this school apparently allows good-natured pranking at the end of term. When I was working we used to have lockdown at the end of term. We used to have a special assembly for the leavers in which we explained that end of term was a special time, a time for going to say your goodbyes and thanks to the staff who had worked so hard on your behalf over the years. Support staff as well as teaching staff. We made it clear that there was to be no silly string, no eggs no flour, no nonsense. Kids were dismissed by class and escorted out by their teachers, we had people posted on fire alarms, etc.
Even something as innocuous as water pistols cause problems - presuming they are being used outside rather than inside. Streamers, silly string etc all cause extra work for premises staff.
I know I sound like a sour old bag but there you go, if the cap fits...

smokepole, can I just say that I think your last post deerves the most enormous respect?

There's nothing wrong with changing your mind after getting more information - most of us would do well to do it more often - but it takes a hell of a lot of guts to say so

Nice one

Thank You Puzzle/ Herald..

round of applause for tiggytape wholeheartedly agree with everything you posted.

and good on ya smokepole for having the guts to say "you know what, I've changed my mind" :)

I think many more people would change their mind once they get past the 'prank' attitude and really think about what happened.

I have just seen on twitter that Lawerence Jones "digital entrepreneur" and CEO from UK Fast has offered him a job. Not because he has the skills he needs, nor because of some kind hearted "he deserves a second chance" agenda, no it is apparently because he has "courage". Yea attacking a teacher in some sort of personal vendetta, then positing on FB to humiliate her further, very courageous....NOT.

I wonder if Lawerence Jones would write it off as a prank if he did the same to one of his clients and posted it on facebook? But apparently they don't have paper plates and cream at UKFast as he's lactose intolerant....so that's ok then....hahaha...laughing all the way to the supermarket....

I hope your five minutes of free publicity is worth most right minded people thinking what a complete idiot you are...

twitter

I think the reason it's allowed is the pupil's generally are sensible about it. I'm fairly sure other good-natured things will have happened on the same day that everybody laughed about. For example we filled our HoY's office with balloons on the last day, and put 'danger - electrocution risk' on the c

I went to a similar school, and we had no rules on the last day because it was expected our behaviour would be self-modifying.

It's just unfortunate that this boy was part of the year!

Ahh, the hastag 'lightenup' has been used. MAKES ME SO ANGRY, GRRR!

Apologies for the apostrophe and the half sentence there, it should have said 'computer room doors'. I'm hopeless at MNing on a mobile!

That hashtag jumped out at me as well Beeyump. She sounds as childish as that obnoxious brat.

Yuck, just reading the reviews on the FB page of the school.

They should "sack the teacher" as she is "after compensation"

Fuxache.

Yes, because it's the teacher that's all over the media making a huge fuss about it. Wait... No, she's probably feeling even more humiliated with every bit of publicity this horrible young man gets.

Of course, the seriously hard of thinking are often to be found on Facebook.

Drank. I think the whole media frenzy is now making Mrs Barrett's position untenable , the inevitable conclusion is that I fear she will resign and leave teaching .

The media frenzy has brought this on, and it is a victory for the "Rule of the mob". I do not know how Mrs Barrett is going to teach come Monday Morning in this school or come to mind any school.

For the record, I never said the attack was acceptable, I just feared this could happen by the way the school handled it. The school have done the right thing, however had a bollocking been given I feel Mrs Barrett's position would not have been made untenable.

It is also very sad that members of the school community are not coming out condemning the actions of this person and the unwanted media attention on the school.

the school's actions haven't made her position untenable; the media frenzy whipped up by this boy and his father's friends in the media is attempting to make it untenable so as to punish her (and the school) for standing up to him. It's bullying, plain and simple.