Gabriella Ferlita
Parents are fuming after a group of children were booted from school for not wearing ‘black enough’ socks.
Headteacher Alun Ebenezer at The Deepings School in Lincolnshire defended the decision to remove the 50 students from their classes for not adhering to the strict dress code.
On Monday 26 September, 50 children were sent to isolation for breaching the rules, including some pupils who were said to be wearing the wrong type of black socks.
The excluded pupils at the school, which caters for 1,449 children aged 11-18 years old, were ordered to spend the rest of the day in the ‘behaviour inclusion centre’ after breaching uniform rules.
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The senior leadership head at the school took to the defence of the zero-tolerance school policy, saying any slips in discipline leads to ‘carnage’.
Alun said of his response to the actions: “The most serious thing is open defiance because if everyone did that there would be carnage.
“I have excluded quite a lot of pupils so far, just for a day, and they come to school the next day with their parents and we have a chat.
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“At the start, it felt like I was excluding a pupil every half an hour just to get the point across.
“If I’m still doing that after half-term there will be a problem, but I don’t think that will happen."
However, parents have since denounced the extreme actions of interim headteacher Alun, who was brought in over the summer after Ofsted inspectors rated the institution as ‘requiring improvement’.
Caregivers of students affected by the mass-exclusion have since hit out by accusing Mr Ebenezer of being ‘heavy-handed’ and comparing his management of the school to running a ‘police state’.
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The dad of one student, who is choosing to remain anonymous said: “My son was hauled out of lessons for having non-regulation socks on.
“It’s crazy. They’re black socks with a very faint line in the design but apparently, they weren’t ‘plain enough’ despite being hidden under trousers.
“It’s not just heavy-handed - it’s like some kind of police state.”
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Another concerned parent added: "My son, who is really doing his best to improve his grades, was sent out of lessons when the teacher said his socks were 'too short'.
"Apparently socks must sit above the ankle and no skin must be showing under the hem of the trouser. It really would be laughable if it wasn't true."