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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think secondary pupils should not be told when their last day of school is?

66 replies

pointydog · 16/05/2009 18:08

The stunts that teenagers are doing now on their last ever day of school are becoming outrageous.

Last week, at dd1's school, other pupils and cars were egged and around 15 taxis were booked for 12pm, all as a hoax.

I remember that my nephew's school didn't tell their final year pupils when their last day would be until the day itself to avoid the chaos.

Quite right.

OP posts:

lilolilmanchester · 17/05/2009 00:25

ah. good point! But we knew it was coming so would have been on guard for that week or so

muggglewump · 17/05/2009 00:30

lilolilmanchester
You went to the same school as me. (We've discussed this befire, I'm not a stalker!)
Did you not participate in the end of term larks?

CarmenSanDiego · 17/05/2009 00:32

This is insane.

It's one thing to relax the rules a bit for the last day of school. Nothing wrong with a waterfight on the field or writing on your shirt... but trashing cars, setting off fire alarms and extinguishers? Throwing eggs around? Harrassing non-consenting outsiders and bullying other kids?

We're talking about 16-18 year olds who may well be about to go and take on jobs or have to go and live on their own at university.

If they vandalise stuff, they should pay for it. If they call taxis, they should pay for them. This isn't victimless fun.

I think I had a sheltered upbringing!

lilolilmanchester · 17/05/2009 00:35

hi muggg.... in my time at "our school" the egg/flour throwing & setting alarms off tended to happen with the kids leaving the day they reached 16 before they took exams. Those of us who stayed on to do exams took our books in after the last exam then went to the Salutation to get pissed (at 16!)

lilolilmanchester · 17/05/2009 00:36

(P.S. agree totally with Carmen)

GypsyMoth · 17/05/2009 00:36

Well if you think that's bad, wait til they get to university!!! Allsorts go on there, ten times worse!

lilolilmanchester · 17/05/2009 00:39

that's also true tiffany, and to a certain extent it's a right of passage. But at DS's school a couple of years ago, they set off the fire alarm, which automatically resulted in 5-6 fire engines arriving at the school. Apart from the fact it cost the school money, it potentially took appliances away from real incidents. Far more serious than a few eggs and a bag of flour. Teenagers don't think about consequences tho, which is the scarey thing about being the parent of a teenager!

GypsyMoth · 17/05/2009 00:45

All those firemen tho!!!

LOL yes I know. I have teens myself. I'll be sensible and agree.

lilolilmanchester · 17/05/2009 00:51

"all those firemen"

Seriously Tiff, I think it's a bit sad that they've lost the relatively harmless eggs & flour bit (oh, and tight-ripping in our day). But we live in different times and things so easily get out of hand, don't blame the schools at all.

CarmenSanDiego · 17/05/2009 00:51

I graduated from university only a year ago! (slightly mature student)

And from a rather erm.. 'creative' course.

I'm still really surprised that this behaviour is considered harmless fun.

Niecie · 17/05/2009 00:54

We have never had this at school round here, neither when I was at school or now. Actually we weren't allowed to leave until the exams were over. We had study leave but we hadn't left school .

The danger of not telling them when their last day is surely that it would end up with the situation we had at university where your friends would be waiting for you when you finished your last exam, which you can't hide or change, with various types of gloop to chuck at you when you came out the door.

It started with eggs and flour and bottles of fizzy plonk or pomagne but by the time I did my finals the concoctions were very personalized and a lot of love and thought when into them! If you didn't like custard and loved baked beans you got some custard powder, baked bean and water gloop for example.

However, this was restricted to the university grounds and most people knew not to park in the car park closest to the exam hall just in case. It wasn't inflicted on the general public or even other people's property. I can see that would be very annoying but I don't think not telling them their last day will make a difference if they are intent on doing it.

midlandsmumof4 · 17/05/2009 00:55

Shocked that Kimi thinks its OK for her DS to shoot 'ginger haired' kids with mini paint ball guns. even if it is end of term.

nappyaddict · 17/05/2009 04:28

At my school they didn't do it on the last day before study leave they did it on the final day of exams.

LovelyRitaMeterMaid · 17/05/2009 06:25

Nothing like that happened at my (bog standard comprehensive) school. And nothing at university either.

Ineedmorechocolatenow · 17/05/2009 07:24

Our school never tells kids (or staff until the last week!) when the last day will be. They just go into registration one day and they are then dismissed. To be honest, the exams start way in advance of 'study leave' anyway, so it's really just when formal lessons end.

It is a tad annoying as a teacher though as you have no idea yourself when your 'last lesson' will be....

nappyaddict · 17/05/2009 11:37

How can you plan for lessons if you don't know when the last one will be?

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