Latymer Upper-drug issues?

[princessllama]

hi,
does anyone have any helpful info on what the drug situation is at Latymer Upper. i have been hearing from 2 different sources that it is a bit of an issue. we are trying to decide whether to send our dc in September. I love everything i have heard about LU so far-great teaching and pastoral care etc, but the drugs issue has me worried.
i would be grateful for any info

[pkim123]

@ForeverbyJudyBlume

Some examples www.eadt.co.uk/news/private-school-pupils-expelled-for-drugs-7451278
www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/top-school-expels-pupils-over-drugs-1822698.html
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13408157.four-abingdon-school-pupils-expelled-breaking-drugs-policy/
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/28/pupils-expelled-taking-m-kat-ketamine-lunch-break-top-grammar/
Most importantly this one www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shocking-number-pupils-kicked-out-13910728
Drugs are a nationwide problem sadly - they're reported more when it's private schools for obvious reasons but no school is immune. And as I said, many private schools would completely cover up these "scandals"
As for Everyone's Invited - if you actually read it you'll see pretty much every school in the land mentioned at some point

HTH :)

Absolutely helps, excellent examples. Thanks so much for taking the time to do the research.

[ForeverbyJudyBlume]

Some examples www.eadt.co.uk/news/private-school-pupils-expelled-for-drugs-7451278
www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/top-school-expels-pupils-over-drugs-1822698.html
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13408157.four-abingdon-school-pupils-expelled-breaking-drugs-policy/
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/28/pupils-expelled-taking-m-kat-ketamine-lunch-break-top-grammar/
Most importantly this one www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shocking-number-pupils-kicked-out-13910728
Drugs are a nationwide problem sadly - they're reported more when it's private schools for obvious reasons but no school is immune. And as I said, many private schools would completely cover up these "scandals"
As for Everyone's Invited - if you actually read it you'll see pretty much every school in the land mentioned at some point

HTH :)

[pkim123]

@ForeverbyJudyBlume

@pkim123 It is bloody weird, you must spend all day trawling the boards for any mention. In answer to your question why are other schools not singled out - a) they are b) LU was very upfront at the time of this issue FOUR YEARS AGO that there'd been a problem and they'd swiftly dealt with it. Other schools might be less open. Hope that helps and hope you can get over this bizarre obsession.

When you state, "In answer to your question why are other schools not singled out - a) they are." Which other schools are also singled out? Thanks for your post.

[ForeverbyJudyBlume]

@pkim123 It is bloody weird, you must spend all day trawling the boards for any mention. In answer to your question why are other schools not singled out - a) they are b) LU was very upfront at the time of this issue FOUR YEARS AGO that there'd been a problem and they'd swiftly dealt with it. Other schools might be less open. Hope that helps and hope you can get over this bizarre obsession.

[pkim123]

@HappyBeing

@pkim123 you’re not asking questions are you. You are posting articles to highlight issues at LU just because media has decided to highlight an issue and they do have a tendency to publish issues at independent schools (quoting the fees which are irrelevant to the point).

The question is - why are you posting thread after thread and rehashing old threads (3 years old!) about LU. Move on.

@HappyBeing the real question is, why do you care what I post? Why do you feel so compelled to say you're so busy and yet have time to make multiple posts on threads which I'm active? Are you obsessed with me?

[HappyBeing]

@pkim123 you’re not asking questions are you. You are posting articles to highlight issues at LU just because media has decided to highlight an issue and they do have a tendency to publish issues at independent schools (quoting the fees which are irrelevant to the point).

The question is - why are you posting thread after thread and rehashing old threads (3 years old!) about LU. Move on.

[honeybushbunch]

Sorry, didn’t clock that this was a zombie thread!

[honeybushbunch]

@stateschoolparent

choselatymer- I agree that no-one seems to know what happened. I was told by a Latymer parent that it was off the premises. This may not be true although I would be surprised if there was anywhere on the Latymer site 7 pupils could safely smoke cannabis. As for the school's action making other children 'think twice', I doubt it will make any difference in the long run. Indeed a quick google search shows 6 Latymer pupils "disciplined' for smoking cannabis in 2005, 4 pupils expelled for ecstasy in 2006 and 4 expelled for cocaine in 2010. Cannabis is now even legal in some US states and IMO a 13/14 year old is too young to be expelled for it without a second chance. Teenagers' brains are wired to be impulsive/take foolish risks and they need help overcoming the lure of drugs . A final warning/drugs testing regime would IMO clearly be more likely to achieve that than expulsion, and avoid damaging the education of seven kids with potentially great academic futures. I don't see how the school can help the families "navigate the situation" -its a bit late for that.

Perhaps if these young people as so bright and have such promising academic careers, they could make the best of it and knuckle down and behave better, perhaps in a normal state school.

Honestly, the pearl-clutching here that they might be “damaged” by not being cosseted at a super nice school (despite doing something they know is fully against the rules) is really OTT.

If incredibly privileged and “bright” 13-14 year olds can’t do what is expected of them in terms of obeying very basic rules, they should not be babied and protected. Sorry, I work with older teenagers and they know perfectly well what they should and shouldn’t be doing. And lots of them now seem to expect quite unreasonable levels of babying and special treatment compared to even ten or fifteen years ago.

[pkim123]

@Pinkyxx

I'd hazard a guess the reason LU is in the media and not other schools is because other schools do a much better job at covering up drug use in the school such that it is never common knowledge among parents and therefore ends up leaked to the media. Image matters immensely to independent schools..

It definitely happens at other schools, it happened at the independent school I attended in the 90's! Naïve to think it doesn't.

Thank you for answering my question.

[Pinkyxx]

I'd hazard a guess the reason LU is in the media and not other schools is because other schools do a much better job at covering up drug use in the school such that it is never common knowledge among parents and therefore ends up leaked to the media. Image matters immensely to independent schools..

It definitely happens at other schools, it happened at the independent school I attended in the 90's! Naïve to think it doesn't.

[pkim123]

@HappyBeing

Also, why are problems always directed at sole responsibility of the schools? What about the parents? It’s not an independent vs comprehensive issue or LU vs SPGS issue. It’s a parent doing their job issue too! If the parent feel the school is not doing its job, then they have the right to do something about it.

But hey ho, let’s take down LU because the media has singled out one school!

Totally agree. Who said it was LU's fault?

[pkim123]

@HappyBeing

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/private-school-pupils-drug-alcohol-addictions-more-likely-new-research-money-fake-id-a7766951.html?amp

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7308039/amp/Britains-private-schools-awash-Class-drugs-according-new-study.html

gasp there are articles that highlight the issues are at other schools too!

Excellent articles, thanks for sharing. That said, neither mentions any specific schools. Do you have any that mention a specific London school? Any London school besides LU?

[HappyBeing]

Also, why are problems always directed at sole responsibility of the schools? What about the parents? It’s not an independent vs comprehensive issue or LU vs SPGS issue. It’s a parent doing their job issue too! If the parent feel the school is not doing its job, then they have the right to do something about it.

But hey ho, let’s take down LU because the media has singled out one school!

[HappyBeing]

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/private-school-pupils-drug-alcohol-addictions-more-likely-new-research-money-fake-id-a7766951.html?amp

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7308039/amp/Britains-private-schools-awash-Class-drugs-according-new-study.html

gasp there are articles that highlight the issues are at other schools too!

[pkim123]

@HappyBeing

@pkim123
you avoided the question too - why are you obsessed with Latymer Upper? You rehash the threads time after time. Didn’t you look at LU for your kid at one point? That’s why I reckon something happened for you to have a vendetta against LU. Do you expect the media to report on every single school that has a drug related problem? I’m sure there are plenty of people with bad experiences with other schools like SPGS too but they don’t feel the need to share and drag a school down due to one experience. You tend to pick and choose what you want to hear anyway.

The question is (and you can choose to deflect again by focusing on why LU is the only reported school with a drug problem) - why do you have a vendetta against LU? Is it because your kid got into SPGS and not into LU and that’s why you feel the need to drag them down?

It really is unfair to the current pupils of LU. Just stop.
(Btw, my kids go to WM so not a LU parent!)

I like to ensure that parents are made aware of what is reported in major news outlets regarding popular London schools. That is why I share this valuable information on MN. For the avoidance of doubt, that is why I am focused on LU at the moment.

[HappyBeing]

@pkim123
you avoided the question too - why are you obsessed with Latymer Upper? You rehash the threads time after time. Didn’t you look at LU for your kid at one point? That’s why I reckon something happened for you to have a vendetta against LU. Do you expect the media to report on every single school that has a drug related problem? I’m sure there are plenty of people with bad experiences with other schools like SPGS too but they don’t feel the need to share and drag a school down due to one experience. You tend to pick and choose what you want to hear anyway.

The question is (and you can choose to deflect again by focusing on why LU is the only reported school with a drug problem) - why do you have a vendetta against LU? Is it because your kid got into SPGS and not into LU and that’s why you feel the need to drag them down?

It really is unfair to the current pupils of LU. Just stop.
(Btw, my kids go to WM so not a LU parent!)

[pkim123]

@olafhasmelted

the article you post regularly is from 2018. I have neither the time or the inclination to trawl the internet for stories on other schools.

There we go, enough time to post on MN, but you don't have enough time to answer a simple question? Like a politician that doesn't want to answer simple questions.

[olafhasmelted]

the article you post regularly is from 2018. I have neither the time or the inclination to trawl the internet for stories on other schools.

[pkim123]

@olafhasmelted

@pkim123 - I’m never sure what your question is? You don’t have a child at the school, you don’t want to send a child to the school, I don’t think you’ve looked round it either, yet week after week you revive any thread about the school even when they are years old. Just curious really as to why- don’t understand it.

No worries, I'll ask it again. My question is why is Latymer Upper regularly in the major news outlets for drug problems and other schools are not? Thank you.

[olafhasmelted]

@pkim123 - I’m never sure what your question is? You don’t have a child at the school, you don’t want to send a child to the school, I don’t think you’ve looked round it either, yet week after week you revive any thread about the school even when they are years old. Just curious really as to why- don’t understand it.

[MPP]

Help please! I’m looking for a Sixth Form school (not college) which includes BTEC Engineering in the curriculum.
My DS has SEN so needs a more nurturing environment than a College.
We are in London but happy to board in other boroughs.

[pkim123]

@TiraMissSue

This is off topic, but I went to a state school not far from Latymer in the 90s and we used to hang out with the Latymer kids sometimes because they had good parties - they all had money for drugs and booze and rich parents with big houses .

On a more serious and current note, drugs are everywhere. You’ll always have pockets of teenagers experimenting. How the school deals with it is key.

i work in a good state school, and coming into school under the influence of any substance would be a fixed term exclusion. Taking drugs on the premises = permanent exclusion. I think that’s the only way, providing you have a good drugs education and PHSCE programme and have given the kids some awareness. I would expect that to start in Year 7. Year 9 onwards is far too late.

You make a clear observation about Latymer Upper when you say, "I went to a state school not far from Latymer in the 90s and we used to hang out with the Latymer kids sometimes because they had good parties - they all had money for drugs". Thank you for sharing this personal experience.

[TiraMissSue]

This is off topic, but I went to a state school not far from Latymer in the 90s and we used to hang out with the Latymer kids sometimes because they had good parties - they all had money for drugs and booze and rich parents with big houses .

On a more serious and current note, drugs are everywhere. You’ll always have pockets of teenagers experimenting. How the school deals with it is key.

i work in a good state school, and coming into school under the influence of any substance would be a fixed term exclusion. Taking drugs on the premises = permanent exclusion. I think that’s the only way, providing you have a good drugs education and PHSCE programme and have given the kids some awareness. I would expect that to start in Year 7. Year 9 onwards is far too late.

[pkim123]

@olafhasmelted

@pkim123 - I wondered where you’d been- you haven’t rehashed a LU thread for a while- glad you’re back!

Nice to see you as well. And I see again you won't answer the question I raised.

[olafhasmelted]

@pkim123 - I wondered where you’d been- you haven’t rehashed a LU thread for a while- glad you’re back!