Pupils arrested in protest at school staff cuts

Apr 22 2008 by Wendy Horton, Western Mail

THREE pupils were arrested outside a school following a mass protest over proposed staff cuts.

Police were called to Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School, near Blackwood, when 150 pupils walked out of lessons yesterday morning in a stand against plans to make some of their teachers redundant.

Three pupils, two girls and a boy, were arrested as officers attempted to stop pupils blocking the road outside the school which had been placed under special measures following a critical inspection report. Close monitoring ended two weeks ago after standards improved.

A spokeswoman for Gwent Police said two pupils arrested for obstructing a highway had been reprimanded but a 15-year-old girl, also arrested for a public order offence, had been detained.

Year 11 pupils, who were not involved with the protest, described the events which led up to the blockade as nothing short of rioting.

Hannah Simpson, 16, who had nothing to do with the protest, said: “We had our first two lessons and then the younger years went down to the bottom yard and then the top yard, then someone set off a fire alarm. It was just chaos.”

Jill Wilkins, who lives opposite the school and whose daughter is a pupil, said: “The kids came out and then the police came and sent them back to class.”

One young pupil caught up in the morning mayhem was Cerys Jones who said she missed out on dinner after being locked into the school when the gates were shut for security reasons.

Her brother Robert Jones, 19, said: “I got a phone call from Cerys saying she didn’t have her dinner money and she was locked in. I had to come from work to come and get her … as she was very upset because the school wouldn’t let her out. I think that was wrong and I think the pupils had a right to protest.”

At home-time yesterday, a number of police cars and police officers were outside the school to oversee the peaceful exodus of pupils.

But parents who had gone to pick up pupils were shocked to find the school gates still locked even after classes were said to have returned to normal by the afternoon.

John Anderson, who lives in Aberbargoed and whose son attends the school, said: “This is ridiculous. I didn’t know anything about the protest until I came here now and the gates are closed and we are not allowed to go in.

“My son said there was talk of five teachers going. It had been a failing school but it has picked up again now. I chose this school because it is on the up.”

A spokesman for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “Today local education authority officials met with NASUWT representatives regarding the consultation process used to date. It has been acknowledged that these processes have not yet been exhausted and therefore, in consultation with the governing body, proposed decisions made to date have been withdrawn until such time as appropriate consultation can be concluded.”

The spokesman added that the school, like others in Caerphilly County Borough, was facing budgetary difficulties as a result of falling pupil rolls.