Tough stance divides opinion at Portslade academy

2:10pm Tuesday 15th January 2013 in News By Peter Truman

Portslade Aldridge Community Academy is at the centre of a discipline row Portslade Aldridge Community Academy is at the centre of a discipline row

There are mixed views about a “hardline” approach to school discipline used at an academy in Portslade.

Hundreds of people have contacted The Argus since we revealed last week how 26 pupils had been suspended from Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) following the appointment of James Fox as interim principal.

Many gave the controversial principal their support, but some pupils – and their parents – expressed fears including how they were missing vital lessons just before exams after being suspended.

More details have also emerged of some the infractions that have led to pupils disciplined.

One commenter on our website who claimed to be a Year 11 pupils at the academy said: “These rules are ridiculous. I’ve been sent out of lessons for wearing nail varnish. I also gained a principal’s detention for drinking water during a lesson.”

Others have spoken of pupils being told to only eat in the lunch hall and detentions being handed out to those who eat outside.

'Terrified'

Another said: “On the first day of the new rules, a perfectly innocent student in my year was excluded, without warning, from the school for consuming a cheese sandwich outdoors.”

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And one commenter who said she was a parent of someone at the school said: “Some children, including my own, are now too terrified to come home and eat at lunchtime in case they are stopped or punished and they have an eating disorder which now means they don’t eat all day as they are not allowed to eat outside.”

But Portslade resident Richard Aguiar said he was in support of the interim principal after seeing his granddaughter bullied at the academy.

He felt the new hard-line stance was exactly what the school needed.

Trouble shooter

He said: “The kids were taking advantage.

“This Mr Fox has an awful lot of work on his hands but I support him.

“The school was in a state before. But he has come here as a trouble shooter.

“It is the parents that need educating. They should have thought about these things before sending them to school.”

PACA said Mr Fox had spoken to “more than a dozen” parents who asked to discuss the matter with him and none have taken it any further.

All children who had been temporarily excluded were due back in school today (January 15) apart from one, due back tomorrow (January 16).

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Comments(17)

heartthrob says...
2:24pm Tue 15 Jan 13

good on him, you cant have the tail wagging the dog

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nocando says...
2:44pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Absolutely right, the comments page to the initial article is full of parents and students feeble yapping about respect and individuality while advocating the flouting of school rules and blaming just about everyone else on the planet for shirt collars being too tight. You have to read it to believe it.

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alice1 says...
2:58pm Tue 15 Jan 13

At the moment as most of use a aware there is a lot of building work going on the school site, with the heavey lorries coming and going, for the childrens safety its not a good idea for them to eat outside may be if its that bad, they could use the sport centre plenty of room there to eat lunch

I do support Mr Fox fully on the behaviour,dress sense of SOME of the children i just hope it settles down soon

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nocando says...
3:06pm Tue 15 Jan 13

It throws up an interesting debate between those that assume its an absolute right to go through life doing as you please with no consequences and those who accept that sometimes we all have to do things we might not like but are necessary for long term benefit both for the individual and society as a whole. A lot of talk about respect from people who demand it without first earning it and individuality from people oblivious to its close proximity to selfishness.
Read it and weep.

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Charismatic Andrew says...
3:22pm Tue 15 Jan 13

"a perfectly innocent student in my year was excluded, without warning, from the school for consuming a cheese sandwich outdoors.”

...... quite right too..... how dairy!

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Crystal Ball says...
3:29pm Tue 15 Jan 13

It's a school, not a playground. Oh...

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risingphoenix says...
3:38pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Maybe if it was revealed as to why Fox was removed from his previous post, parents might give him the benefit of the doubt as to his approach...

After all (as WE are told frequently), if he has nothing to hide, he should have nothing to fear!....

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nocando says...
3:52pm Tue 15 Jan 13

You've only got to watch them going to and from school to work out they think they're really hard. Tell them to do their top buttons up and they start crying about it. Not very good is it?

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Evocrim says...
3:59pm Tue 15 Jan 13

It appears to me that on the previous article’s comment many people had an axe to grind and veered off topic somewhat. It would be well remembered that PACA students aren’t beer drinking, pot smoking vandals and hooligans but young children, some being only ten years old. If there are some troublemakers in the school then by all means deal with them with the utmost severity BUT do all the children have attend a school of fear and intimidation. A girl was sent home because her hair was frizzy? I am genuinely sorry for the woman on here reporting about the bullying of her daughter but it now appears obvious that the bullies have infiltrated further than the playground and are running the place. I tried to contact to the school but they have clammed up tight – does anyone know how to contact the Board of Governors?

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fatso says...
4:35pm Tue 15 Jan 13

"I also gained a principal’s detention for drinking water during a lesson.” When I was at school we would not have even thought about drinking in class. If those are the rules abide by them. After all a single lesson does not last all day and you can have a drink at the end of it.

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brightonmike2011 says...
4:51pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Anyone could have commented and made up ridiculous stories. I could have said I was a year 11 pupil and claimed to have been kicked out for sneezing.

Maybe The Argus should verify these claims before dragging this poor mans reputation through the mud. There's always, always, two sides to every story and the guy should be given the chance to discuss the issues from his perspective.

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rayellerton says...
5:26pm Tue 15 Jan 13

I think its is fine to enforce a dress code for pupils, so long as the teachers also dress smartly with suits/tie etc to set the tone..too many teachers go to work in stuff more suitable for a building site. Also, at formal gatherings such as assembly they should wear their gowns...

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MIstified says...
6:34pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Here we go again, people who do not know what is actually going on having a lot to say about a subject. I am all for rules, it is the inappropriate way it is being enforced that I am against. For the person that commented on have a drink at the end of lessons, where, they are only allowed to drink in the canteen which only holds approximate 120 students. The main concern of parents are not the uniform issues, which are petty items but all the other issues we raised before. If Mr Fox has nothing to hide, why doesn't he have a meeting with all the parents who wish to attend and let us debate it. After all when Mr M joined PACA we were all invited to meet him.

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Dave At Home says...
8:44pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Before we start to learn about the past & present Mr Fox some of us would like to know why Stuart McLaughlin was permanently excluded just before Christmas. And just for the record Stuart is not the only person/adult who has been asked to leave the site last year....

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brightonearly says...
9:02pm Tue 15 Jan 13

I wish people would stop being so gullible and believing everything they hear on this site...nobody was excluded for having frizzy hair!! Students ARE allowed to drink water in lessons. The Argus are a disgrace for publishing this load of rubbish. They should be supporting schools not jumping on the bandwagon with parents who are believing everything their children tell them! Isn't that slander??!!

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redwing says...
11:08am Wed 16 Jan 13

Dave At Home wrote:
Before we start to learn about the past & present Mr Fox some of us would like to know why Stuart McLaughlin was permanently excluded just before Christmas. And just for the record Stuart is not the only person/adult who has been asked to leave the site last year....
Academies are an accident waiting to happen. Secrecy is all part of it. After all they are out of local authority control and a law unto themselves. Accountability to parents/students/the local community is not what they are about.
http://antiacademies
.org.uk

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Evocrim says...
2:29pm Wed 16 Jan 13

brightonearly wrote:
I wish people would stop being so gullible and believing everything they hear on this site...nobody was excluded for having frizzy hair!! Students ARE allowed to drink water in lessons. The Argus are a disgrace for publishing this load of rubbish. They should be supporting schools not jumping on the bandwagon with parents who are believing everything their children tell them! Isn't that slander??!!
You're thinking of libel, not slander. I know the parents and girl who was sent home (not excluded, no one said that) for her wavy hair so I wasn't just pulling stories out of thin air. The outrage you feel about these "silly" stories would be intensified and multiplied if you knew them to be real and happening to your children. The Argus is not a "disgrace" for giving voices to all the concerned parents who are being ignored by PACA. If we could take these matters up with them then we would, but they have been unresponsive to my communication and, I would assume, to many others' also.

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