Headteacher Quits After Pet Lamb Slaughtered

[rogerdraig]

shouldn't have named it should have explained to parents their intention from the beginning not up to the school to decide when a child is ready for ALL the facts of life

most here saying that she did the right thing are the first to point at parents for not parenting

i know if they had done this with out informing me especially with my youngest child I would have been gunning for her resignation too

i am not a vegetarian and would when they were old enough show them an abattoir some thing many here have never seen i have killed animals for various reasons from chickens for food to putting ( helping ) a beloved pet down

all of these things and how you explain them depend on the child and how it was brought up yes some see it from birth in real terms ( though few now ) if brought up on a farm but most don't and a lot of us would prefer the Kids stay kids as long as they can rather than being forced into the adult world for anything

Originally Posted by rogermevans

shouldn't have named it should have explained to parents their intention from the beginning not up to the school to decide when a child is ready for ALL the facts of life

most here saying that she did the right thing are the first to point at parents for not parenting

i know if they had done this with out informing me especially with my youngest child I would have been gunning for her resignation too

i am not a vegetarian and would when they were old enough show them an abattoir some thing many here have never seen i have killed animals for various reasons from chickens for food to putting ( helping ) a beloved pet down

all of these things and how you explain them depend on the child and how it was brought up yes some see it from birth in real terms ( though few now ) if brought up on a farm but most don't and a lot of us would prefer the Kids stay kids as long as they can rather than being forced into the adult world for anything

the kids weren't marched to the abattoir and forced to watch you know ,everybody ,children and parents alike were told exactly what was going to happen from start to finish and the children were fully involved even to the point of deciding what would happen to the meat .

We have discussed this many times on this forum about how 1 or 2 parents get something into their heads and decide they need to act for the majority and be outraged for everyone on behalf of the little darlings and usually it ends up with a perfectly good teacher losing their job

Originally Posted by Flyboy

I very much doubt they actually voted for the animal to be killed. I don't think children as young as seven would have understood the implications of such a choice. Fourteen children from a school of hundreds is not a very fair representation for such options. The children did not make this decision, thirteen children out of the whole school made it. The "school council" vote the way they are told to by those who really make the decisions. They are made up of the children who are the most popular and not those who will represent the needs and feelings of the student body (this is sounding very familiar). If you had a seven year old and told them that the animal they had cared for all year was about to die and made into sausages for them to eat and then asked them if it was okay for that to happen, what do you think they would say?

I'd say this woman has succeeded in turning many of these childen into vegetarians; so not a failure all round then.

So you are a firm believer in representative democracy until it differs from your viewpoint.....

The Ofsted report disagrees with your viewpoint - page 3

They like all the improvements which have been made to the school and the school council feels that it really does have a say in decisions.

14 out of 235 pupils sounds like a good representation.

It also states

Parents now regard this as a school where their children are safe and well cared for. They have seen marked improvements to the cleanliness and facilities since January.

which is when Andrea Charman was appointed.

Also, can you confirm how you know that any of the school council members are seven, or was that just a made-up emotive argument?

Would you be vegetarian, perchance?

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by martyh

the kids weren't marched to the abattoir and forced to watch you know ,everybody ,children and parents alike were told exactly what was going to happen from start to finish and the children were fully involved even to the point of deciding what would happen to the meat .

We have discussed this many times on this forum about how 1 or 2 parents get something into their heads and decide they need to act for the majority and be outraged for everyone on behalf of the little darlings and usually it ends up with a perfectly good teacher losing their job

i beg to differ more than 1 or 2 of the parents have said they were not informed nor did their kids understand that this would happen

doesn't say much for teaching if they couldn't ensure they did



and in any case this isn't something they should be doing in school

and getting the kids to vote on what to do with it afterwards doesn't mean they agreed to start with

there is a time and place for everything and school isn't the place for this


as to Ofsted i remember they said a certain social services department was great too !

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by martyh

Flyboy , i am commenting on the facts as presented not the ones i choose to believe

here's some comments from parents of children who attend the school these are the facts i will comment on not the ones you think exist



View Comment
wayne, on 11 September 2009 16:22, said... I have 2 daughters that go to Lydd Primary and they have been aware, along with all the other children, that they would raise the lamb and then send it to market / slaughter in September. The decision for this was made in June. It is only a small minority of the parents and children at the school that oppose.


Steve, on 12 September 2009 08:03, said... My son goes to Lydd and although we new about it he's still upset over it. The decision was made in the right way with everyone voting last term so while I disagree I think the school has done the right thing

But everyone didn't vote, did they? Only fourteen children were given the opportunity to vote. And two comments from two hundred and thirty odd, does not make a majority. If the school were that certain of the student body's opinion, why didn't they ask them all, or are saying that referenda don't mean anything?







---------- Post added at 22:09 ---------- Previous post was at 22:06 ----------

Originally Posted by foreverwar

So you are a firm believer in representative democracy until it differs from your viewpoint.....

The Ofsted report disagrees with your viewpoint - page 3 14 out of 235 pupils sounds like a good representation.

It also states which is when Andrea Charman was appointed.

Also, can you confirm how you know that any of the school council members are seven, or was that just a made-up emotive argument?

Would you be vegetarian, perchance?

It might help to read the article referred to earlier in the thread.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

But everyone didn't vote, did they? Only fourteen children were given the opportunity to vote.

perhaps they were ones who cared for the animal most .The fact still remains and it is confirmed that the idea was given approval by parents,teachers,and the governing body everybody concerned new what was going to happen but when some wishy washy parents got wind of it they thought they would kick up a stink on behalf of a load of kids who probably already new exactly what was going to happen because it is a farming community ,and now the school system is minus one very good head teacher thanks to a load of busy bodies

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by martyh

perhaps they were ones who cared for the animal most .

No, they were the school council.

The fact still remains and it is confirmed that the idea was given approval by parents,teachers,and the governing body everybody concerned new what was going to happen

Well, obvioulsy not, otherwise why the complaints?

but when some wishy washy parents got wind of it they thought they would kick up a stink on behalf of a load of kids who probably already new exactly what was going to happen because it is a farming community ,and now the school system is minus one very good head teacher thanks to a load of busy bodies

If it was just some parents, by which I presume you mean just a few, why the furore? Surely, if it was a tiny minority, they could have been dealt with pretty easily.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

No, they were the school council.



Well, obvioulsy not, otherwise why the complaints?
yes it was the parents said so ,i refer to my earlier thread where the parents approved of it MOST of the complaints came from outside the community on face book



If it was just some parents, by which I presume you mean just a few, why the furore? Surely, if it was a tiny minority, they could have been dealt with pretty easily.

[Flyboy]

So why the need for the headteacher to resign? Surely, if she was that good, a bit of tittle-tattle on facebook, from unconnected people, wouldn't faze her.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

So why the need for the headteacher to resign? Surely, if she was that good, a bit of tittle-tattle on facebook, from unconnected people, wouldn't faze her.

it wasn't a bit of "title tattle" it was a campaign to force her to resign or spare the lamb from slaughter and i suspect that animal rights groups had a lot to do with it

link

The animal protection charity, Peta, said it had contacted Ms Charman asking for the slaughter programme to be shut down.
A letter to Ms Charman, sent before news of Marcus' slaughter was released, said: "We urge you once again to spare Marcus' life - teaching the children how animals feel love, joy, fear and pain, just like us.
"We also ask that you shut this programme down.
"The children have got to know and love Marcus and it is now the perfect chance to introduce humanity, compassion, respect and understanding to the school instead of betrayal."

Originally Posted by Flyboy

It might help to read the article referred to earlier in the thread.

a) which article
b) It might help if you answered some of the questions I asked.

Also, can you confirm how you know that any of the school council members are seven, or was that just a made-up emotive argument?

Would you be vegetarian, perchance?

Or are we just going to keep on evading them?

You keep going on about it only being 14 children - they are the school council, selected by the other children, as their representatives; Democracy is fine, except when it doesn't agree with your views?

8 parents of the 235 children at the school complained - but thanks to the internet and the media, it became a world-wide phenomenom, with all the cranks coming out of the woodwork.

A "bit of tittle-tattle"? Times

Andrea Charman stepped down from Lydd Primary School — which she had steered out of special measures — for “personal reasons”, but it is understood that she was hounded out after an internet campaign that saw threats to her and to the school......

......The campaign took an ugly twist when personal threats to Mrs Charman were posted online and another Facebook page called for her to be banned from teaching altogether. Others wrote on the internet that they wanted the school burned down.

The worst feature of the internet - allows anonymous bullying from a distance.......

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

The worst feature of the internet - allows anonymous bullying from a distance.......

Exactly, let's have a look at what's been said by people hiding behind keyboards on Face Book

One by Teresa Marie Compton, read: 'Burn the school down. That'll learn them.'

Katie Doolittle wrote: 'Let poor Marcus live and send the headmistress to the abattoir.'

Lisa Price posted: 'I am livid, the b******s killed him. What goes around comes around.'

And Amy Shead said of the headmistress: 'She will get her comeuppance.'

Sound like a nice bunch don't they, although the first poster didn't actually say whether or not the children should be in the school or not when it's burnt down, I'd go for inside if I were her though, it'd learn them better...

---------- Post added at 23:23 ---------- Previous post was at 23:21 ----------

Originally Posted by Flyboy

This has much to do with the treatment of children's feelings as it does with the wishes of parents.

It's alright one of the mums has contacted a solicitor now to sue

re the solicitors - I think we could all see that coming.

I am sure the mum will be suing Disney next, for the trauma her daughter suffered watching "Bambi" and "Old Yeller".

[Jimmy-J]

Just carry on fooling them with this crap.

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by Product 13

Just carry on fooling them with this crap.

no intention of fooling them just a time and a place to do it