Another Clown One

[ThatGingerOne]

Sorry!

Just read in the newspaper today that a 10 year old girl in Staffordshire was suspended for 5 days for bringing in a clown mask and scaring pupils on the play ground with it.

AIBU to agree with the headteacher and others saying this was the correct thing to do? Of course parents have gone to the newspaper to gain sympathy for their ''angelic'' child so that's the only reason its come up

www.stokesentinel.co.uk/leek-schoolgirl-10-excluded-from-churnet-view-middle-school-after-wearing-clown-mask-in-playground/story-29814728-detail/story.html

5 day suspension seems a lot if this is an isolated incident

Willing to bet it's not.

acasualobserver 😄

At 10 she is one of the younger children in the school and I think the punishment is way harsh. I don't believe that a 10 year old in school uniform and a mask engendered the same level of fear in those children that an adult would - she must have been looking up at half of them. A 24 hour suspension or internal exclusion would have been a more proportionate response.

To be honest, I have a feeling there's more to this (even without one of the comments suggesting the girl is a known bully). It could well be the straw that broke camel's back, as it were. Would a school honestly give such a harsh response to a relatively minor misdoing? The fact her parents describe her as a 'class clown' seriously suggests previous negative behaviour they would completely deny that, of course.

The parents bought her that mask, let her take it to school and then went to the press.
They've engineered the whole thing.

And no I dont think the school were OTT. They set an example.

Whilst her behaviour might have been inappropriate, I think these comments on her appearance is uncalled for isn't it?

Shame on all of the posters writing bitchy things about a ten year old girl's appearance.

I think it absolutely depends the girl and what her intention was. If it was genuinely just meant to be a joke and she didn't really expect anyone to be scared then they could have explained to her why it was inappropriate and gone with a less excessive punishment. If it's part of a general pattern of behaviour where she's deliberately scaring or intimidating younger pupils in the playground then it seems like a reasonable course of action.

I agree noooorthener. But there wouldn't be very many younger children at her school would there.

Confiscate the mask - definitely.

Dish out some punishment such as a detention or lines - very appropriate.

Five day suspension! Really? That does seem OTT to me. It's not even as if there were lots of children much younger than her who might have been frightened by it.