The parents of a 16-year-old GCSE student have hit out at both the police and a school after their 16-year-old daughter was handcuffed and taken away. They had to collect their daughter from Burslem Police Station after officers had been called to Ormiston Horizon Academy, near Stoke-on-Trent, this week.
The school called in Staffordshire Police after a handful of students barred from a leavers' celebration refused to leave the grounds. The youngsters had a stand-off with school staff because they wanted their shirts signed and to say goodbye to fellow pupils, Stoke-on-TrentLive reports.
The girl's dad said: “We had no contact through the school, we only knew because of other children. I went to the school and nobody knew where my daughter was.
“They are more bothered about the school’s name. But they’ve made a mockery of the children, made a circus of them, that’s all they’ve done. It’s all over the internet before they even know it. She was just being a kid, all just having a laugh and a joke. It’s the last day and they were excited.
“It has shaken them up a bit and shown them in the wrong way when they’re only 16. My daughter is quite a bit shaken, she’s a bit scared of the police. How are these kids going to look at the police when they want help?”
The girl's mum was at work as the drama unfolded on Wednesday, June 14. Children had been barred from the leavers' celebration for either poor attendance or bad behaviour.
The mum said: “I wasn’t aware of any of this. The school never contacted me or tried to inform me of the incident. I was called by another student. I went to the school on Thursday morning and said ‘You’ve got three or four contacts on her form and you haven’t phoned one of them to tell them what's happened’.”
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The mum added: “If something is in place for the day and the kids are looking forward to it and then they take it away it’s going to upset them. Signing t-shirts is a big thing at school and they've missed out. I’ve still got my shirt from when I was at school.
“There was a lack of communication over such a big incident. If they had just contacted the parents first, it could have been avoided.”
Here's what Ormiston Academy Trust has to say:
An Ormiston Academy Trust spokesman said: “We are aware of a minor disturbance which took place on the school grounds. It coincided with a celebratory leavers’ assembly for our outgoing year 11s.
“Throughout this academic year, students have been consistently informed of the high standards of behaviour and conduct we expect as a school and repeatedly told that a continued failure to meet these standards would result in individuals not being invited to be part of the celebrations. As a result of these clear rules, a small number of students were not invited to be part of the leavers’ assembly.
"This decision was communicated in a timely and sensitive manner and all families were made aware of our academy’s expectations. Despite this, some of these individuals attempted to enter the school and were subsequently asked by the local police to leave the school grounds. While the majority did so, a small number remained and the police therefore took further action. This issue has now been resolved.
“At Ormiston Horizon Academy, we are wholly committed to fostering high standards of behaviour and have always set clear expectations for our students. Though these events were unfortunate, we would not like them to detract from the brilliant success of our outgoing year 11s.”
Here's what Staffordshire Police has to say:
A spokesperson from Staffordshire Police said: "Patrolling officers were made aware at 11.40am on Wednesday of a group of students who were refusing to leave Ormiston Horizon Academy. The group were trying to force entry into the building and were causing disruption within the school grounds.
"We spoke with the group at the scene and made proportionate attempts to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. As a result, a number of them left the area voluntarily, whilst a small group stayed in the area and continued to cause disruption to officers.
"We spoke to a 16-year-old girl, from Stoke-on-Trent, about breaching the peace. Her parents collected her from Burslem police station a short time later.
"One teenage boy was also detained at the scene and spoken to about breaching the peace. After speaking with them both, no further action was taken."
