Letters Page

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Response of school to bad behaviour

SIR, – In response to your editorial Comment (May 13) on your story headed “School turfs out pupils over lawn prank”, I must express the disappointment of the Banchory Academy staff at the lighthearted manner in which you treated the issue.

We are not killjoys at Banchory Academy – as illustrated by the fact that a day of activities including a barbecue had been planned for the pupils – but drunkenness, vandalism and a total disregard for fellow-pupils’ wellbeing cannot be tolerated. Sadly, those pupils who genuinely wanted to enjoy the day’s activities were unable to do so because of the actions of some of their peers.

We are a health-promoting school in a country which has a horrendous record of binge drinking. For your paper to suggest that this is simply “part and parcel of growing up” is irresponsible in the extreme and gives entirely the wrong message to our young people.

The “champagne breakfast” did not appear to include the pupils clearing up afterwards. The school had to respond to several calls from members of the public upset by the offensive chants, rubbish strewn over the park and loutish behaviour of some of the pupils who had been drinking at the pavilion.

Furthermore, the turf in the common-room was by no means “artificial”. The cost of clearing, cleaning and repairing the room will be considerable and will be paid from school budgets that would be better spent on the educational provision for our young people. In addition, an arrest was made on the day. We very much welcomed the help and support from Grampian Police. It was an extremely difficult situation for staff to manage on their own.

We hope that those involved will reflect upon their actions and realise the consequences for themselves and other people.

While, to the outsider, elements of the day may initially appear amusing, I can assure you that those involved in the teaching profession take these matters very seriously, indeed.

Sheila Di Maio,

head teacher,

Banchory Academy.

Approach to pupils’ actions

SIR, – I write as a parent of an S6 pupil at Banchory Academy in response to your coverage (May 13) of the day's events on Monday of this week.

I'm sure we would all agree that the turfing of the S6 coffee bar floor wasn't the most sensible of actions.

Unfortunately, at Banchory Academy, it seems to have become a tradition to “out do" the previous S6 leavers. Indeed, Councillor Karen Clark seems to have conveniently forgotten that her other son was part of last year's group of leavers who incarcerated live ducks within the school, and set off panic alarms and secured them to helium balloons: all of this after partaking in a champagne breakfast, another leavers’ tradition.

Head teacher Sheila Di Maio didn't see fit to ban all those students from the school premises.

Having a glass of champagne with breakfast does not automatically equate to being drunk and disorderly in my book. Many parents feel that Mrs Di Maio made a panic decision without assessing the state of the pupils waiting outside the school or bothering to communicate with them.

Instead, she and her team decided to treat the pupils who have been in her care for the past six years like common criminals and called the police out to deal with them.

The police then advised the pupils to congregate at the town's park, something I'm sure that they would not have suggested if they had seen evidence of widespread inebriation.

Surely a more pragmatic approach by Mrs Di Maio and her management team would have been to gather the leavers together and ask them to clear up the mess, something which the pupils had already offered to do.

As your editorial Comment wisely pointed out, “occasional high jinks are part and parcel of growing up".

Fiona Petrie,

Wester Knockhill,

Strachan, Banchory.

Council chief executive post

SIR, – Now that Douglas Paterson has quit, it is clear that the post of Aberdeen City Council chief executive requires a radical overhaul of its responsibilities.

It is not good enough to simply replace Mr Paterson without looking at what was wrong with his leadership.

Consistently in his tenure, he alluded to the fact that his decisions were devolved to relevant department heads within the council. Clearly, Mr Paterson has put his trust in their judgments without challenging them where necessary.

On several occasions lately, we have seen that the bad judgments of department heads have been accepted unconditionally, to the detriment of Aberdeen's citizens and, indeed, its reputation.

A chief executive salary of £126,000 is no mean sum and its worth must be measured not only by the competence but the unquestionable accountability of the new holder of the post.

Lynn Cadger,

15 Woodhill Place,

Aberdeen.

Swimming tuitionat leisure centre

SIR, – I refer to your story (May 9) headed “Pool staff ‘under-qualified’ as swimming teachers”.

I was an authorised tutor at Dingwall Leisure Centre. Management issued private tutors with an unreasonable new policy stating “if teaching, including to family members, then permission must be sought/names registered”; “teachers must be qualified to the same minimum level as centre staff”, and that private tuition can be “disruptive".

I considered it an invasion of my privacy/rights as a “customer" to seek permission to teach relatives when the centre cannot offer the service. I regarded the “disruptive" comment offensive. The centre holds regular “lifeguard" staff training during public sessions. I regard that as more disruptive.

Highland Council stated that 11 of the 14 staff are ASA Level 1 qualified. It was admitted that three await results. Not mentioned was that four have just received their qualifications.

I still stand by my comment that “regular" teachers (through no fault of their own) have taught unqualified for three years.

As a former employee, I'm aware that the centre does not have a qualified trainer/assessor in “teaching", but it does in “lifeguarding".

I feel it would have been more beneficial for the council to admit the failings. It should provide a quality/safe teaching service, while perhaps taking the opportunity to investigate why there is such a high staff turnover.

Lynn Lonnen,

Firthview, Dingwall.

Extra timeon the drive

SIR, – Twenty-five years ago, I arrived at North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, hoping to drive across it.

The road was blocked by long rows of supporters waiting for the Aberdeen football team’s arrival from Gothenburg, where the day before they had defeated Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup. I had timed myself to get there after they would have passed through.

“Why are they late?” I asked one of the policemen.

“Oh,” he said, “they had to play extra time.”

George Crossan,

50 Ashgrove Road West,