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).

I can only hope the teacher is pointed towards the supportive post for her here on MN.

Do Manchester Airport want their Chief Information Officer ( must be a family link as there are not many Dowdle's) involved in this frenzy. This campaign is not being masterminded by the boy himself surely. If the campaign is being masterminded by him , the Dowdle family need to show a bit of decency and condem their sons actions.

I thought I post a couple of responses from the petition site:

Anonymous.

I really hope for the sake of this pupil, as well as the teacher, that the arguably disproportionate and inappropriate sanctions/legal action by the school are reconsidered . Presumably this teacher entered a caring profession to help build the futures of young people rather than ruin their futures , in a few years would this teacher really benefit from having this disproportionate action on her conscience ?.

Joshua Latham.

Sadly this once again shows how AGSB deals with punishments, completely
disproportionate and clearly a campaign from Mrs Barrat for retribution, since when was some cream in the face worth a students whole university career ?.

It is ridiculous and can only cause further damage to start talking about the teacher needing to resign. I think she has more chance in the classroom as she has shown her students that they can't get away with such behaviour. Can you imagine teaching if everyone knew that had happened, and that he just got a slap on the wrist?

I wonder if the teacher could sue the lad for putting this in the public light?

..teachers are like weebles, we wobble but we don't fall down. (Not very often anyway).

I think the HT, the rest of the staff and pretty much all the other parents at the school are almost certainly firmly behind the teacher.

The odious Jacob dowdle might be trying to bully her via the media (social and traditional) but that doesn't mean he'll succeed.

I think that, having taught the boy for a number of years, the teachers were probably able to judge whether this was an unfortunate case of high spirits combined with error of judgement or more serious bad behaviour.

Also, it's one thing to get over excited and do something that you realise on reflection wasn't funny. It's quite another to share it on social media.

As it is similar to this (as it is also a "prank") I see that the dick that crawled under America Farrera's dress has been arrested for "prank" slapping Brad Pitt.

WiganandSalfordLocalEditor

The end of year pranks are one of the reasons why many schools no longer have study leave.

I expect the "prank day" was something that developed over the years as a bit of a tradition.

I doubt it was scheduled in the school calendar.

I feel very sorry for the teacher. I have watched the video and its clear that lots of the kids were watching and laughing at her. The uploading to facebook, presumably with her face in full view must have been very humiliating. She did not say anything and must have been very shocked. If someone had done that to me i reckon I would have probably reacted aggressively (and I dare say the kids would love that).

Looking at the video I am also wondering if she is pregant? It may just be the style of the dress and where its blurred.

I believe the school acted correctly. I don't see how this messes up his university chances. Why hasn't he already applied/received offers?

My DD1 year 13 had her final day on the 23 rd of May at her "Modern" school in Kent, there was just tears smiles and hugs for the teachers. The teachers and pupils exchanged pictures and cards with each other and had a great time together, there were none of these silly stunts pulled. The students realised that the time had come where they were no longer Kids but Adults ( most of the students will not go to university, many will have to find jobs in a difficult environment ) My DD probably will achieve 3Bs which puts her in the top 2-3 of her year group , the point I am making is that despite the academic advantages of AGSB ( I know the school because my brother lives near it) which students are more rounded individuals , the ones who think its funny to post this on line and the fellow students filling in a on line petition, or the ones who know its time to start making a life for themselves.

There were just tears, before someone pulls my poor grammar again.

I have just seen the footage of this incident and can't believe someone would do that to a teacher and yes I think he should be expelled. I personally think that he shouldn't be allowed to sit his A Levels either. In addition the person who was filming the incident should also be punished as this to me seems as though this was a carefully orchestrated incident designed to humiliate the teacher involved.

Can't find the footage and would quite like to see. What a foolish thing to do.

I just looked up the boys name and I think it was on theManchester evening posts website

Wow I can't believe anyone thinks this is acceptable - very sad.

It wouldn't have occurred to me to attack a teacher at any age but the fact it's being seen as funny is just awful.

I think the head has handled it brilliantly and would also sign a petition of support for the school.
Actions have consequences and by year 13 he should have worked this out.
Maybe this lesson will stand him in better stead for the rest of his life.

I have had this response to my reporting of the wish to do something from MNHQ:

Thanks for getting in touch about this.

Do please feel free to start a new thread about this in our Campaigns topic. It would be great to measure the response.

We have our work pretty much planned out for the next six months, following up on our Miscarriage and We Believe You campaigns as well as ongoing work on libel reform and respite for people caring for children with SN, so we're having to think carefully before taking on new campaigns at the moment - we've found we're more effective when we don't spread ourselves too thinly.

That said, if this is something the board feels very strongly about we will of course look into it.

In the meantime, if there's anything Mumsnet posters would like to do among themselves on this, please go ahead and keep us informed, and if there's anything we can do to back you up, we will; some of our most effective campaigns have been those started and organised by posters themselves.

Best
MNHQ

Bah, I just started a thread in Site Stuff about this, I should have checked here first!
I mooted a Just Giving page in aid of a teacher support charity because I didn't want a support thread/petition being spaffed all over by Pie Boy and his online bullies.

What do we think?

A lot of the comments at the bottom of the tabloids are now generally against the actions of this man. Unfortunately all you get when you google is his smug face and the fact he has a petition with over 100 signatures.

1000 signatures.