Dad Hits Out At School As Daughter Is Banned From Prom Despite Paying £500

A high school prom is something that teenagers all over the world look forward to, and a lot of effort typically goes into their outfits.

But one dad has been left fuming after his daughter's school prevented her from wearing a dress that cost him a handsome £500.

However, it wasn't the dress itself that was the problem, it was the fact the teen hadn't met the required number of points to attend the highly-anticipated event.

Lillie Granger, 16, attended Polam Hall School in Darlington, County Durham, and pupils there need to amass 500 points to get a ticket to prom.

They can earn themselves points in a number of ways such as by joining the school's study club or simply by having good attendance and punctuality.

But unfortunately for Lillie, with a total of 491.5, she was just short of the threshold and therefore unable to attend.

This left her dad seriously angry after the dress and ticket combined cost him £550.

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Lillie then tried to work out what had cost her the coveted prom ticket, and her conclusion was that she'd lost points for being off school sick.

However, Kate Reid, the head teacher, insisted this wasn't the case and said points are only removed over bad behaviour.

Lillie's Dad Matthew said he had to pay a £200 deposit for the dress, and because his daughter didn't quite have 500 points at the time, he asked if she was definitely going to prom.

He said he was assured that she'd be able to reach the target on time.

Matthew was then given the option to buy a ticket on a system known as Parent Pay, and he took this as a green light that his daughter had 500 points.

Lillie only found out that she wasn't going to be able to go to prom at half term, at which point the ticket and the dress had been paid for.

Her dad said the fiasco has distracted her from her exams.

"She’s in the middle of her GCSEs at the moment and they have dropped this on her when her focus should be on the exams," he said.

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The head teacher said that while she couldn't go into detail about Lillie's record, all students began the year with 500 points next to their name.

Reid explained: "All Year 11 students and parents were first informed in November that they would need 500 points to attend prom.

"The students began the year with 500 points to give them the best possible chance of attending and there have been regular updates for both students and parents throughout the spring and summer terms.

"Students have been able to increase their reward points in many ways, including attending study club and tutoring sessions, attendance and punctuality to both school and lessons and maintaining and increasing their average Attitude to Learning Grades.

"Points were only lost for negative behaviour incidents."

The school has now said they are going to refund the price of Lillie's ticket and the price of the ticket for any other student in the same situation.

Tyla has reached out to Polam Hall School for comment.

Topics: News

Emma Guinness

@guinness_emma