Hardline head punishes boy for eating an apple

 

by LUKE SALKELD - More by this author » Last updated at 22:00pm on 17th January 2007 Comments (22)

 

 

A boy was given a detention for eating an apple in the wrong part of his school.

Tom Bosley, 16, could have ended up expelled over the incident.

He is the latest pupil to fall foul of headmaster Chris Richardson's zero-tolerance approach to discipline at the high-achieving school.

Pupils - and some parents - at Kings of Wessex Community School in Cheddar, Somerset, have complained that the regime is excessively strict.

The youngsters say they have been punished for eating in 'undesignated' food areas, wearing the wrong shade of black trousers, undoing their shirt's top button or removing their blazers in hot weather.

'I missed a whole day of my GCSEs because I ate an apple in the wrong place,' Tom said yesterday. 'The teachers watch on CCTV to spot people eating, then send another teacher to come and catch you.

'The punishments are way too harsh. They should have detentions for people who mess around in lessons or don't do their work. But some teachers seem to go around trying to find reasons to punish people.'

Tom - who is expected to get 11 A grades in his GCSEs - was caught eating on the school's tennis courts last month.

School rules state that food can only be eaten in the dining hall, so he was ordered to attend a 30-minute detention.

However, students only discover if they are in detention if they check a list on a notice board, and Tom was unaware he was to be punished.

As a result, he was given an afterschool detention which he refused to attend in protest and was subsequently told to attend a day in a 'supervised learning unit' under threat of expulsion.

Tom's father Andy Bosley, a haulage engineer, said discipline at the school was 'ludicrous'.

'All the parents are upset about it,' he added yesterday. 'I'm all for punishing troublemakers but Tom is a sensible lad - the punishments just don't seem to fit the crime.' Mr Richardson's 1,200-pupil state school is one of the top schools in Somerset and has recently been given foundation status.

Its GCSE grades are well above the national average, with 64 per cent of pupils getting five A-C grades compared to 46 per cent.

Mr Richardson said in a statement: 'For health and safety reasons students are only allowed to eat in designated areas (the school hall and gym). All students are aware of this rule and the consequences of not adhering to it.'

He added: 'The Kings of Wessex is a high performing school and has high expectations of all students both in terms of academic work and behaviour. Kings is currently oversubscribed in all year groups. It is unfortunate this student and parents chose to escalate a relatively minor disciplinary incident by repeatedly refusing to accept the punishment.'

Another pupil Sebastian Velfre, 14, has had nine detentions since September - including one for failing to bring a muffin to a cookery class.

Holly Reece, 15, says she was given a detention for sucking a mint in the playground. 'The teachers care more about appearances than about our education,' she added.

Among the other offenders at Kings of Wessex are Letitia Velfre, 16, who was suspended for highlighting her hair, Emily Ronan, 15, who had her collar button undone, and Lucy Pettler, 16, who also ate an apple outside.

OH MY GOSH! :o His name is Tom Bosley!!!!!! BAHAHAHAHA :laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3:

 

To the point, that is way too harsh. I once got a detention because my shoes werent polished enough. Stupid schools.

OH MY GOSH! :o His name is Tom Bosley!!!!!! BAHAHAHAHA :laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3:

 

 

What's so funny about that??:confused:

What's so funny about that??:confused:

 

I used to tell my friend he looked like this really old actor (who i think is dead now actually) called Tom Bosley. He doesn't look like him at all though, I just enjoyed making him paranoid. Ahh good memories. It also reminds me of a skit on Family Guy.

well it's not necessarily that he was punished for eating an apple, it was eating an apple in an 'undesignated' area! we folks here have no tolerance for misguiding thread titles, that's enough to get you kicked off the board and miss the next alias day.

 

but seriously, that's ridiculous.

I used to tell my friend he looked like this really old actor (who i think is dead now actually) called Tom Bosley. He doesn't look like him at all though' date=' I just enjoyed making him paranoid. Ahh good memories. It also reminds me of a skit on Family Guy.[/quote']

 

Yes - I thought you might have meant him! He played Rich'e and Joanie's dad in "Happy Days"!!:rolleyes: