Children "susoended" for kissing at school

[Hulababy]

Here

Eight school children in Wiltshire have been suspended after protesting against a ban on "canoodling".
Children at Warneford School in Highworth, were told they were not allowed to kiss, hold hands or hug.

Several refused to return to classes last Friday lunchtime in protest, and held a rally in the playing field.

Headmaster John Saunders said the eight were suspended for being rude to staff and not because they contravened the "canoodling" rule.

'Light-hearted'

He said the ban was aimed at instilling "appropriate behaviour" in pupils.

"We were reminding the pupils of a rule that already exists. It was fairly light-hearted," said Mr Saunders.

"We have a school council through which the pupils can express their views, but on this occasion they chose to make a protest in a different way."

The school has around 900 pupils aged between 11 and 16.

Any thoughts?

have been reading through this - nothing to say about the incident - but am really really pleased to be teaching where I am and not at some of the schools described here - I am at a small special needs secondary and would never never go back to mainstream teaching. Those of you there and in difficult schools - and I know what they're like - I taught at the school in Maida Vale where the headmaster was stabbed to death when he interveened between two rival gangs at the school gates - you have all of my respect. It's such a tough job.

I think too that where I was teaching lots of kids were full of information about their rights - which I agree with but refused to take responsibility for their behaviour - always someone else's fault......

I taught some brilliant kids and sadly they tend to be missed as the focus in on the minority as hmb said....

I also think that the lack of respect for anyone including themselves is part of the issue too.

I had a boy whose parents had split up - mum felt guilty for leaving and so gave him anything he wanted..... when I had a parent interview with the father - his response in raising my concerns about this boy's behaviour... 'I know my son is an a*hole, what do you want me to do about it?" what hope have I got?!?!/

But I do also have fond memories of some of the brilliant kids I taught in the UK. Who went on to do good things and achieve success.

Eidsvold, that's an interesting comment about the man who appeared unable to deal with his son's behaviour - the words "parenting classes" spring to mind. I think we have much more atomised lives now and simply don't have the confidence and back up from other people in the community which our parents enjoyed. (I remember when my brother tried smoking for the first time when he was fourteen, within eight hours my parents knew about it because neighbours whose existence he was blissfully unaware of told them!) I think another big factor is the opt-out of the middle classes from state schools. Sorry, I know that's a controversial subject and I don't want it to go into the rights and wrongs of private education (that's a different thread!), but if en masse all the educated, articulate, supportive parents decide to send their kids private instead of to the local state school (for perfectly legitimate reasons) then the local school is going to be left with a problem without the mitigating effects of a hard core of supportive parents who set the tone for how they and other parents, and therefore children, interact with the school.