Consequences

Oh, good.

Yesterday, an issue arose at school. (See previous post, Sex).

As soon as I spoke to my daughter’s teaching assistant this morning, she got one of those ‘light bulb above the head’ expressions. She said she thought she knew when it happened: she remembered noticing a boy sitting next to my daughter on a playground bench outside at lunchtime, and a trio of giggling girls sitting on the next bench. She went over to ask if my girl was OK, and she said she was fine. The lad sidled off looking sheepish, and she asked my girl again if everything was all right, again getting a happy little nod.

He was a sixth-former, who really should have known better. 

My daughter’s teacher, who had a small amount of steam escaping from her ears at this point, assured me she would make sure the boy was identified.

“We may even have him on camera,” she said. (Yay, Big Brother Society!) “I’ll speak to his head of year.”

“Brilliant,” I said. “Anything that makes him squirm would be good.”

“Oh, yes. He needs to be embarrassed. We might need to over-egg things a bit and mention the fact that he made these remarks to a minor, just to put the wind up him a bit more, don’t you think?”

I collected my daughter from the school gates this afternoon and learned the following: The ‘comedian’ has indeed already been given a dressing-down by the head of sixth form. Along with the reprimand, he is having to write a letter of apology. He may also be visiting the special unit that my daughter attends, to learn a little bit about some of the conditions the pupils have, and also to make him feel embarrassed and hopefully guilty about his little ‘prank’. I’m really quite happy about this, as it all sounds generally humiliating.

And my girl? Unaware of today’s goings-on, she’s not mentioned the incident. She’s now watching Beauty & The Beast and will soon be tucking into a plate of pasta arrabiata for tea.

I like the way today turned out. The issue was immediately taken seriously by school staff, dealt with quickly, efficiently, and even inventively, and I’ve gone from feeling angry to being impressed. 

All in all, a rather good response to teenage twattery.

Video is Madness - Embarrassment