“Great posting CSF!”

“Having read the articles and comments through it seems to me that the whole sorry tale can be summarised as follows: Kids wear make-up to school when they shouldn¿t, head teacher is a bit of a zealot of the dictatorial approach; kids get upset and try to change the rules seemingly through petition and when that failed a ¿revolution¿ (Marx would be proud!)and, in the meantime, vent their feelings on some virtual group. Head teacher overreacts again and kicks kids out of school. Some fool takes it to the press and VOILA! - Common sense is forgotten and sensationalism rules.

Before someone starts feverishly typing blah about ¿cyber bullying¿ and ¿in my day we had respect for teachers¿¿ I absolutely agree any kind of bullying is unacceptable however, if you think about what has been written and not the implication, an ex ¿ pupil made an inappropriate comment; the kids in the group were seemingly expressing their opinions and, as far as I can see didn¿t post their comments to the head teacher nor invite him to join the site (perhaps the fool who brought the site to his attention is the bully considering the definition of bullying is to intentionally cause harm to others). As the kids clearly didn¿t intend for the head teacher to read their views then the claim of bullying ¿ cyber or otherwise is null and void. Disliking or cheeking teachers is rooted in kids' alienation from the education system, which is borne out of a long and illustrious history of lack of resources, pressures placed upon kids and staff by constantly being measured against nonsensical targets, a proscriptive and boring curriculum, petty tyrannies of the school regime, too many kids not enough staff and the lack of sensitivity and responsiveness to individual kids¿ needs. In my day (when chalk and blackboards were used instead of interactive white boards), teachers would invariably enter a classroom to a group of snigger kids and the words ¿Sir is a ¿..¿ scrawled across the board. ¿Sir¿ would then correct the spelling, rub it out and teach us what we needed to know (thus gaining our RESPECT). Obviously the chalk had some link with common sense, perhaps this could be investigated scientifically¿ meanwhile back to the plot.

At this point the Lincolnshire police are dragged into the whole sorry mess, of course they will investigate any claim of harassment it¿s what we pay them to do and of course they frown upon cyber bullying BUT ¿investigating¿ is one thing actually having a case to answer is completely another ¿ the difference between fact and inference is as vast as the difference between reality and sensationalism (the former doesn¿t sell papers). On top of this the school governors get involved in the now public humiliation of the school seemingly in support of the head teacher and his leadership and management (to be fair the management of the whole issue seems to be pretty close to the eye of this storm).

So, call me curious but, I assume at some point someone told the kids ¿ ¿kids, you know makeup is not allowed if you don¿t sort yourselves out we will write to your parents and you¿ll get a demerit (or whatever it is these days)¿? Then I assume because the kids, being kids, took no notice and so the parents got a letter and some kids got detention or demerits or similar; but then it all went horribly wrong because none of the above had any effect and it¿s absolutely clear that the wearing of mascara demonstrably has a negative impact on effective learning (evidently it does now)? Is that an embarrassed silence I hear? Good grief ¿ surely our state education has more to offer us, the tax paying public, than this. I know it is the pantomime season but please, this whole sorry situation has made the school, the head teacher, the governors and even the county look RIDICULOUS!”

“All of you condemning these pupils involved have done exactly what this "man" wanted you to do, the pupils can't go to the newspapers and the local news, but he can, so evryones mind will be made up, it's amazing what an appearance on the news can do. These pupils have merely voiced opinions, something which we all do everyday, freedom of speech I think it's called. Now they may have took it to far, but they should have been warned. Something along the lines on the next person to do wrong is out. These pupils have been excluded because it's personal, its aimed at newnham. Yet when the bully is aimed at his pupils he couldn't give a monkeys. He was previously a zoo keeper and I doubt he treat his animals as badly as he has treated some pupils and parents.”

“Mr Newnham is ok, leave him alone he is doing his job. I he is being Cyber Bullied by pupils Younger than him then let him do something about it. HE IS DOING HIS JOB. He has expelled + excluded pupils that have Cyber Bullied him. He wouldn't expell pupils for no reason but this is serious. LEAVE HIM ALONE. let him do his job properly instead of getting the press involved!!!”

“I am a pupil at the school and I experienced first hand the protest and incidents that followed. After I was told by some of the 100 (roughly) pupils that protested, why they did it I believe that their reasons were justified and reasonable, it was not just about the make up, but also as a last resort at getting Mr Newnham's attention, you see their had been petitions and formal complaints given to him which he ignored, supposedly stating: 'I don't care if people are unhappy this is my school'. I see this as pure ignorance and think that the recent reports and news stories have been very very one sided.
However I do think that the groups created and comments made on facebook have ruined the campaigners chance of being taken seriously and it was an act of stupidity and immaturity.
I would also like to point out that the person who commented on a group claiming Mr Newnham should be 'stabbed' was no longer a student at the school and hasn't been since last year.”

“I am a pupil at the school and I experienced first hand the protest and incidents that followed. After I was told by some of the 100 (roughly) pupils that protested, why they did it I believe that their reasons were justified and reasonable, it was not just about the make up, but also as a last resort at getting Mr Newnham's attention, you see their had been petitions and formal complaints given to him which he ignored, supposedly stating: 'I don't care if people are unhappy this is my school'. I see this as pure ignorance and think that the recent reports and news stories have been very very one sided.
However I do think that the groups created and comments made on facebook have ruined the campaigners chance of being taken seriously and that it was a stupid thing to do.
I would also like to point out that the person who commented on a group claiming Mr Newnham should be 'stabbed' was no longer a student at the school and hadn't been since last year.”

“What a shock these whining kids are going to have when they get a job and move into the real world!!

If the kids do not like the school rules - tough! Life is full of hardships and although kids know their rights only too well, they don't understand that with rights come responsibilities.

Most older people wouldn't dare question the rules in years gone by and they are better people for it.

Kids are out of control and so are their parents letting them get away with murder...

They need to be much harsher.

1 chance, if they are out of order, 1 day suspension.

Any repeat performance, 1 week suspension.

Any more, PERMANANT EXCLUSION.

This system would need to be without exceptions and within a few short weeks all would be sorted”

“As a parent of one current (a none make-up wearer and, as yet, not excluded) and one former CYS pupil the leadership of both Mr Conner & Mr Tointon, was second to none, fair but firm, they led by example, had great respect for the pupils, who in turn respected them and the teaching staff, with few exceptions.

How sad then that matters have escalated into the situation we now have.

The pupils were always previously told that their opinions were valuable and the appointed student body would ensure their voices were heard. I understand when the petition was presented for debate, and for those not involved with the school, do not think this is just about make-up, it was accepted with comments along the line of, ¿fine but it won¿t make any difference¿. How very democratic and fair.

Whilst I am not naïve enough to take everything a teenage child says as gospel, anyone who has had involvement with the school recently will know that this situation has just been waiting to come to a head, no pun intended.

Bullying is prevalent in CYS, cyber bullying in particular, such a pity that it only hits the headlines when it is Mr Newnham who is on the receiving end.”

“i think anyone who doesn't know the full story should shut up and stay out of it, because you don't go to this school so you don't know!!!”

“"Police have warned pupils"
Yeah, that should do it !!!”