Ark Schools Challenge Behaviour Claims
In HIP 270 we published an article, Why Won’t They Behave?, reporting on disciplinary issues at Ark Alexandra Academy. It referred to complaints made in social media posts that a member of staff had ‘screamed’ in the face of a pupil.
This part of the article was not put to Ark Schools before publication. We accept that it should have been.
We now understand that the social media posts to which the article referred related to an allegation made in school, which was independently investigated by the local authority and found to be unsubstantiated.
At the time, the school wrote to parents and shared the outcome of the investigation which stated that the allegations were ‘unfounded… with no foundation or basis in fact.’
We are sorry for the distress caused to the individual by this false allegation having been repeated, and acknowledge that what was written about this person was inaccurate.
We also reported that suspensions were being triggered by school rules and etiquette. Ark Schools have told us that the number of suspensions have “ significantly reduced this year” and that there have been “no permanent exclusions this academic year.”
In this respect we regret that our article misreported MP Helena Dollimore in referring on Facebook to 123 children as having been “excluded” from the Academy last term. What she stated was that 123 children were “removed”, i.e. taken out by their own parents or others in authority.
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