Only one of these pupils survived ‘Gestapo’ school’s 50 student uniform cull… can you tell which one?
WOULD you be able to tell which of these pupils survived a uniform cull, after about 50 youngsters were sent home due to "ridiculous" breaches in school rules?
Police were called to deal with furious parents who protested outside the Kent school, as their kids were refused entry on the first day of term for wearing the wrong socks and cardigans.
To the untrained eye the majority of the students look uniform, but although parents said they had followed rules sent out in a letter from the school, they still made mistakes which barred their kids from school and led to protests.
This morning, 20 more children were not allowed entry over uniform problems, and police have been called back to the school to safeguard the situation.
One child was left yesterday with bleeding feet after she was forced to take off her socks, and one parent claims the headteacher told her son he "was happy" for him to be in pain all day if he changed out of the trainers he needs to recover from a hip operation.
Year 7 student William King was hit by a car last September and despite mum Sharon's protests and explanation, headmaster Matthew Tate refused to let William in wearing the trainers.
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Sharon, who likened the headmaster of Hartsdown Academy, in Margate, to the Gestapo, told The Sun Online: “I’ve got a daughter in Year 11 with hypermobility who has worn Nike Air Max for the past three years and has never had a problem, so I just assumed it would be the same for William.
“As soon as we arrived at the gates William was stopped along with many other Year 7s because they were going in an hour early before the other pupils.
“He was singled out and told he needed to change his footwear, I tried to explain it was on medical grounds but the headmaster was having none of it."
Furious Sharon has lodged a complaint with Ofsted but says she is worried the experience will have ruined William’s first day at a new school where he knows few people.
The mum also rubbished claims it was 50 children who were sent home, saying it was more like “half the school”.
She added: “There were around 200 students outside the school at its peak, and all through town you could see kids in Hartsdown uniforms."
She said she respected uniform rules but thinks yesterday's policing was too harsh.
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Mr Tate today appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain to defend his decision to close the school gates on pupils, and said the majority of parents back him.
He also claimed some kids were bullied for wearing the right uniform and said the decision was “the first step” to making the school a “great place to be”.
Mr Tate said: “This is about setting the standards for this school.
“This school for a long time has been a school that many people have been ashamed of and that people haven’t wanted to go to.
“We set out yesterday that actually this is a school that is going places.
“This school is going to be an amazing place for children to have a great education and actually we are going to create a school where children are proud to be here and that the community is proud of this school. And this is the first step to doing that.”
Kim Hopper, 13, was told her cardigan was wrong as she tried to enter the school, despite the fact that it was bought at the school uniform store.
The youngster had left her blazer at school over the six week break – but was not even allowed entry to pick it up.
Furious Allison said: “She’s 13 and was left on the pavement until I could get a taxi to collect her!”
She added that the shoes she had bought her daughter were not allowed, as the school said the dark colour lace up brogue style shoes were trainers.
A number of the parents The Sun Online spoke to claimed multiple pupils were left on the street unable to get home as their parents were at work or unavailable.
“The majority of our parents are pleased with that.
“They feel the school needs to be better for their children and I’ve had several parents today who have said to me how pleased they are that they can see that actually we want to be different.
“We want to be a school that they can be proud of sending their children to.
“There is a minority, a vocal minority but a minority of parents who are not happy with that and I understand that it has inconvenienced parents.
"There's a few parents who have lost their temper but it is a very small number."
Lucy Wood was forced to remove her white socks as they were the wrong colour.
As she walked around all day in just her shoes her feet were rubbed raw and cut until they bled.
Her mum Samantha Wood said she had “no idea” white socks were not allowed, and says the school uniform store “never said a word” when she bought them.
She said: “Lucy was in tears due to the headmaster making her take off her socks.
“The shoes ripped open the backs of her feet. There was blood everywhere.”
The angry mum said she was “so p**sed off” with the school after her young daughter “went in crying”.
She added: “He was sending tons of kids home, I’ve never seen anything like it.
“[The school] is a load of crap and I’m moving her after what I saw this morning.”
Samantha says she asked the headmaster to allow Lucy to wear the socks for one day and change tomorrow – but he refused and said she could only enter if she took them off.
The mum said Lucy, who has now returned home from her first day, is “very upset”.
She said: “She had a bad day. It’s so sad. It was her first day today and the worst day.”
Some angry parents say they had no idea rules were changing.
Angry Louisa Abram, 36, and her partner Sian Williams, 32, dropped their young daughter Alaesha Paige Farbrace off at the school for her first day of Year 7 this morning.
When they arrived crowds of pupils and parents were gathering outside the gates, as the head stood at the entrance refusing entry to dozens of kids.
Luckily little Alaesha, 11, made the cut and was allowed entry, but Louisa has slammed staff for the “ridiculous” rules that stopped other students.
She told the Sun Online: “Kids who were wearing black school shoes were being turned away because they were canvas or had buckles on them.
“In the letter we received about uniform it just says they should wear ‘black shoes’ – nothing about what style, or what’s on them.
“Some of these kids were wearing the same shoes last year and never had a problem – if the policy hasn’t changed, how were they to know?”
The angry mum-of-two says the students should have been allowed in for the day, but sent home with a letter telling parents to fix the uniform before tomorrow.
She says: “I understand the uniform is there for a reason and rules have to be followed, but this is just ridiculous.”
Find out more about uniform rules and what happens if you take your kids out of lessons.
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