Six-year-old schoolboy suspended for having Mini Cheddars in his lunchbox

[DirtyDog]

Nowhere in there or elsewhere on their website does it mention the healthy eating policy and what is allowed or not allowed to be eaten. Which is sad as I'd really like to see it.

It does say to ring the school and they will give you copies of policies, though, so maybe try that. Whether they will circulate the policy to non-parents is something you'd have to ask the school. But if you want to get hold of it, then that might be a good starting point for you - their phone number is 01753 683661.

Personally I would ask questions about the head teacher, I'd wager he lacks the gravitas and leadership skills required for the job if he needs to resort to suspending a 6 year old over anything other than the most extreme behaviour.

The Ofsted letter from May last year is reasonably positive about the head teacher:

The headteacher has a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes good teaching. During this inspection he was observed giving feedback to staff about their teaching. The feedback was very pertinent and well rounded so that teachers gained a very clear understanding of the strengths and areas for development. The headteacher’s ability to give very accurate feedback is one of the key reasons that teaching is improving. His clear understanding of the school strengths and weaknesses means that opportunities for continuing professional development are geared more closely to teachers’ professional needs.

so it may be there is more to it than meets the eye, although they don't deny it was related to the healthy eating policy.

Almost certainly, there is. And it's unlikely that we're going to find out all the facts about what has happened here.

[doodab]

HTHBIVVMDI

IVMDI too, because it doesn't, but thanks for your input. Are you perchance a failed primary school head teacher?

Nowhere in there or elsewhere on their website does it mention the healthy eating policy and what is allowed or not allowed to be eaten. Which is sad as I'd really like to see it.

Personally I would ask questions about the head teacher, I'd wager he lacks the gravitas and leadership skills required for the job if he needs to resort to suspending a 6 year old over anything other than the most extreme behaviour. I certainly can't imagine something like this happening at my son's school, they are all far too reasonable.

The school claims, while not giving any details, that

an exclusion did take place, but the school is bound by
strict confidentiality rules regarding parents and pupils and is,
therefore, unable to discuss the details behind any one specific
exclusion. However, it is extremely disappointing that the media
have been provided with such grossly misleading information
which has resulted in them running a wholly inaccurate and
potentially damaging story for our school.

so it may be there is more to it than meets the eye, although they don't deny it was related to the healthy eating policy.

Edit:

Colnbrook CE Primary School

Provide Strategic direction for the work and imporvementof the school.

[the_rangdo]

<pedant>

I see the words 'asked', 'plan', 'refrain' - none of those say this is an absolute rule on penalty of <insert punishment>

And who defines what a 'balanced meal' is?

</pedant>

We had the same with mini-R. She got so fed up of bland, 'approved healthy' school meals which seemed to consist of stuff we'd say was the opposite, we started sending her with pack lunches. That straight away got her segregated to the 'packed lunch' table like they're a bunch of lepers.

Occasionally we'll send her in with a bottle of Ribena as she gets fed up of having water all the time (fair enough, I'd be fed up of water all the time too). The school's response has been to not allow kids to throw away the packaging of unapproved food-stuffs in the school bins, it must go home (presumably to point out the naughtiness of our ways). Healthy waste is allowed though

IMO it's the responsibility of the parents if a packed lunch is being provided. If the school's meals are being used then fair enough they can dictate what goes in them.

[doodab]

Does the school issue a list of exactly what foods one may eat?

No, in fact there is no evidence of the healthy eating policy on their website at all.

[DirtyDog]

So it does.

I know, I'd read it before I posted about the school.

• Repeated behaviour examples from Step 2 or 3.

HTHBIVVMDI

[MyUserName]

So it would only make sense if the child had had 4 detentions for this in the same term? Otherwise it sounds like a breach of their own policies.

[doodab]

The school has a very clear behaviour policy, which details the levels of escalation which should take place. I've assumed that the school has followed their policy.

If the school hasn't followed those guidelines, then a suspension is too soon. Suspension should never be used as a first resort, except in exceptional circumstances. However, the head teacher refers to "continuously" breaking the rules, which implies that some warning would have been given.

So it does.

http://www.colnbrookprimary.com/bp.pdf

Suspension being reserved for serious misconduct such as:

• Four lunchtime detentions for any reason(s) in any one term.
• Repeated behaviour examples from Step 2 or 3.
• Bullying through deliberate and hurtful behaviour, repeated over a period of time.
• Theft.
• Physical or violent behaviour.
• Absenteeism without permission.
• Racist remarks or behaviour.
• Wilfully damaging, breaking or destroying other children’s, staff or school property.

Or of course eating mini cheddars every day for a couple of weeks, which lets face it is far worse than a bit of bullying, or gentle ribbing as we used to call it.

[doodab]

I think it must be difficult for the school to teach the nutrition part of the curriculum when they apparently can't read the information on packets.

[DirtyDog]

Doesn't sound like repeated warnings to me.

The school has a very clear behaviour policy, which details the levels of escalation which should take place. I've assumed that the school has followed their policy.

If the school hasn't followed those guidelines, then a suspension is too soon. Suspension should never be used as a first resort, except in exceptional circumstances. However, the head teacher refers to "continuously" breaking the rules, which implies that some warning would have been given.

[MyUserName]

Doesn't sound like repeated warnings to me.

Hmmm .. in that case a suspension was an over reaction. Not because of the rule being broken just because it seems a leap to hit someone with that level of punishment without it being a result of an escalation procedure (unless the kid does something really bad of course)

So mini cheddars are unhealthy

Irrelevant. They are not counted as healthy by the school rules. If this is not the case (I personally have no problem with them other than they are horrible) then the rule should be changed, not ignored.

As I said, completely arbitrary rules based on nothing but some jumped up Hitlers opinion of what is good. Lots of talk about how parents don't have the rights to decide which rules to follow but surely those making the rules have a duty to employ a modicum of reason and sense when formulating them? Seriously if you are going to ban mini cheddars you'd need to ban at leasy half the other stuff the kids are eating as well.

The school probably thought they were following reason and are just mistaken over some parts of their analysis. This does not mean their rules should be ignored, just updated. There are channels for doing this and the parents, if this was their intention rather than just being stubborn, went about it completely the wrong way.