14 DAY TRIAL // Disruptive students at the Tudor Grange Academy in Worcester, West Midlands might have to attend classes in a facility outside the school grounds. Troublemakers would be taught the same core subjects, just under stricter conditions.
After the 720-pupil British school was branded the title of Academy in 2009/2010, 15 students have been expelled. Tudor Grange is currently the school with the second-highest expulsion rate in England.
Recently, it has filed paperwork to convert an old office space into a facility that deals with “alternative education.” As a result, 12 troublemakers could end up studying in a building 2 miles from the main institution.
The small groups of children would be given classes in mathematics, English, art, information technology, cooking and “life skills.”
The DailyMail reports that students' classwork and activities during play time would be carefully supervised at the site, and they would be able to return to the Tudor Grange after displaying good behavior.
The school's planning application, as submitted to the Worcester City Council, describes the facility as a haven for struggling students, providing “focused intervention appropriate to their learning and social needs.”
Members of the Worcester City Council, however, have expressed concern on the matter.
“The trouble with academies is [they] most really want to select their intake and that’s not possible. They need to accept their fair share of students across the ability and behaviour range,” conservative councilor Alan Amos argued.
Parents are outraged by the news, as they believe this measure will make children feel like inmates.
“The phrase “rehabilitated” has also been used more than once which shows how the centre will be treated. It’s abhorrent that school children, maybe as young as 11, will be treated like criminals,” one parent said.
This exceptional measure may open the door for other, perhaps harsher means of disciplining those who prove disruptive. It may, however, provide much needed attention from teachers to students, who, otherwise, would struggle in school and act out as a result of not coping.