Humiliated Sons Exam results publicised

[Frances39]

My son received his A-level results this August and is about to head off to university. However his college which he attended in their assemblies have being showing his picture and results in all the assemblies. My son did very well despite several unfortunate happenings during his exams, however he did very mediocre compared to the rest of the leavers. In their assembly's they put up the A*AA etc. students up and those going to Oxford/Cambridge, then they went on to show my sons grades and his less prestigious university as some kind of charity case. My son has not left his room now for a couple of days since hearing about what the school did, he did not even tell his close friends what grades he got. He feels humiliated and violated that they would do such a thing without his consent and that he was contrasted with Oxbridge students. I have no idea what I should do, I will he contacting the school and maybe a solicitor. I cannot imagine what my son must be experiencing

Sounds like the school were making a point of how proud they were of him that he still did well despite everything he's been through.

MaisyPops - The school should not be using anyone's names or grades in assemblies as examples for any reason without checking with the individuals first. It is totally unacceptable for any school to do that.

I must have got the wrong end of the stick then when you mentioned counselling etc. Maybe another poster mentioned mental health issues.

In which case, they've tried to do something nice. He hasn't taken it that way.
With no underlying issues why are we accepting that locking yourself in a room and threatening violence is an acceptable way to deal with life and blaming the school for somebody's over the top response to a situation. They are not rrsponsible for his lack of resilience. Is it really worth trying to take legal action against a school? Things happen that we don't like. We get pissed off. We move on.

You're clearly only interested in being told the school are horrible people who humiliate people and you should take legal action.

I think this may well be a breach of data protection law. It is different to all results being published or a student agreeing to being an example.

Whether there is a background or not (just seen some recent updates) it was for your son to decide whether to make results public. It is also his prerogative to feel however he does.

You and your son could decide to move on to uni, but I see it as equally reasonable to make a complaint.

Your DS or you could first ask for the details of what was disclosed publicly and the data protection policy. You or DS may want to contact the information commissioner or look at the information on their website.

Even if there is no formal breach of policy you/DS could complain that there should be specific consent for this type of thing. The policy should give details of the data controller for the school.

ico.org.uk/for-the-public/
It currently has the advice posted by a PP about publishing exam results.

Thiscantreallybehappening Then I should never outline reasons children get awards in assembly either. (And that would be the end of me doing awards because I'm not calling home just in case someone is annoyed that I'm celebrating their achievements)
We should never outline the scores of sporting fixtures or positions in local league tables in case somebody wants to lock themselves in a room because people found out they were 3rd in the league, not 1st.
We shouldn't give updates on how music ensembles or soloists got on at competitions. Because they only got to national heats and not the final and people might think they're crap.

Thry tried to do something nice.He took it worse than the school intended. Bad situation for him, yes. Having people kick up a massive fuss around him talking about legal action is hardly helpful.

There is a way to communicate gently and kindly but some of you have been attacking the OP and given she herself must be struggling with everything that's happened whilst also trying to support her son on her own you could ease off on the fucking attacks. The language and tone of your posts isn't at all helpful but then I'm sure you all already know that seeing as you're claiming to be so perceptive about what is coming across.

OP please look after yourself and good luck.

Or SingaSong12 she could do the REASONABLE thing and just contact the school to discuss it like a sensible adult instead of seeing a potential legal claim and working out how to sue the school.

brass The thing is that the initial post was way over the top in my opinion.

No mention of 'this happened, would it be unreasonable to contact school' just straight to legal action and solicitors.

The tone of original posts makes a massive difference to how people respond.

Maisy - Do you really think it is acceptable for a school to publicise results in this way without checking with the individual first?

I don't think it is acceptable at all. OP's DS is a young adult, we all react to things differently and it is a very self conscious age. He is understandably upset and he feels humiliated. Most DC's in that situation would. Can you really not see that? You come across as very patronising, hard and seem to lack any understanding of human emotions and reactions.

Maisy - sorry the examples you are giving are a totally different scenario and do not justify what this school has done.

Maisy - sorry I should have expanded - when you are giving awards out you are comparing one student to another. Sports days - are not the same thing as A Level results - surely you can see that.

Thiscantreallybehappening
I personally would check on grades. But i don't check on other awards I give out, i know my colleagues don't go round our teams and ensembles and check. If any of the parenta I worked with kicked off like OP then it would lead me to decrease doing awards.

I think it would be reasonable for the OP to raise her concerns with school.

I don't think it is reasonable to go on about solicitors and legal action because a well intentioned acknowledgement didn't go down well. It's not down to the school that an 18 year old decides locking himself in a room and threatening violence is the way to act.

Maisy you're a teacher? quelle surprise!

You're carrying on like a goady fucker even after everything else that's been said. You say OP's only interested in being told the school is horrible but you're only interested in bashing the OP. Self awareness much? You made your point what are you getting from persisting with the nastiness? Are you helping the OP? No.

Ah but maybe you're not posting to help. Compassion my arse.

But giving out awards is not the same thing is it. This school was comparing one student against other students and making public exam results. Exam results just like medical information are a personal and private matter and it is up to the individual whether they disclose that information. The school should have contacted all the students involved and checked with them whether it was okay for them to disclose their results in that assembly.

sorry, my earlier post should have read - when you are giving awards out you are NOT comparing one student to another

brassbrass - well said

You're carrying on like a goady fucker even after everything else that's been said.
Nope. I don't think the school are responsible for how somebody responds. If an 18 year old responds the way the OP's son has then that is a horrible thing for him to be feelimg, but they are not responsible for how he responds to situations. I don't think that starting a thread going straight for legal opinions is particularly helpful because it does feel very much like going after the school over what seems to be a well intentioned acknowledgement that hasnt come off as well as intentioned.
You say OP's only interested in being told the school is horrible but you're only interested in bashing the OP
I'm not interested in bashing the OP. I have said that the tone of the post probably affected the replies.
I have said that she would be more than reasonable to raise her concerns with the school and discuss it sensibly.

I don't buy into this 'x happened so let's get legal advice'.

In other words (lile I have said before)

'X has happened. Thry were trying to something nice but actually my child has responded negatively and I'm not happy with it. Is it unreasonable to contact the school to raise the issue and flag up my concerns?' - totally reasonable and fair

'X has happened and I'm so pissed off. Ny child has responded by doing x y z in this situation. They are awful and clearly jist wanted to humilate my child to make some point. Shall i take legal advice?' - totally disproportionate.

Saying that is not being goady. It's asking for a proportionate and measured response to a situation.

It's like when people decide they are going to write massive letters to ofsted reporting schools but then they've never actually spoken to staff. Or me going and reporting a shop to the main chain without raising it with the shop manager first.

Of course the school is responsible they released personal information without asking OP's DS. Can you really not see that this is wrong?

maisy OP and DS can look at the information commissioner website and make a decision what to do. There is nothing there that says she must go to court. Just looking at a website doesn't preclude either deciding to do nothing or speak/write to the school.

They can be responsible for making a poor call on naming grades.

They are not responsible for a young adult deciding to lock himself in his room and threaten violence.

Just when i worked in a horrific school environment, it affected my mental health and wellbeing. School were responsible for the workload issues. But they weren't responsible for how I coped with it. If I had found comfort in alcohol (i didn't), i couldn't say 'oh they made me drink too much'

Surely schools aren't allowed to share this information?

Not 100% on this ricotta. Every school I've worked in has shared success stories. I don't know if use within school has different rules etc.
I know for a fact one of my students ended up in our newsletter for great results (I found out when I got the newsletter). First I heard was when I saw the newsletter.

Personally, I would ask my group if I could use them as an named example. I've used many students as anonymous examples of what to do/not to do.

There's certainly a discussion worth having. I just don't agree that the inflamatory 'get legal advice / the school is responsible for how he responded' is particularly helpful.

Maisy. I don't think you are saying anything too different from most other posters but the way you phrase things make you come across as being very unsympathetic and unkind. I don't know if that was your intention or not but if not you might want to tone down your posting style.

He certainly won't be the only student to have done worse than was expected in his exams but he's certainly not a failure if he's going to university.

It is very very unfair for his school to have shown him up in such a way though. You should complain and request a private apology from the school but as far as I can see there is nothing that they can do to undo the damage they have caused without causing your son further embarrassment.