"And Now We Go Over To Lord Of The Flies High For A Report..."

Striking teachers who walked out of a Kent academy in a row with authorities over pupil behaviour have been slammed by some locals who say they're 'bowing down' to the anti-social children they're supposed to be teaching.

I'm not normally in favour of strikes, but it must feel to these teachers as if they genuinely have no other recourse... 

The troubled school was rated inadequate by Ofsted in August 2022 due to concerns over 'bullying, racism, homophobia, vandalism and pupils' understanding of sexual consent'.

Around 20 staff formed a picket line between 7.30am and 10am today holding up placards including some saying: 'I Come to work to teach not to be abused'and 'NOT ready, not respectful not safe.'

The school, which is one of only two on the Isle, has denied repeated calls for 10-day suspensions to be handed out to students if they abuse teachers.

Then they can't really be surprised when their workers take matters into their own hands, can they? 

Deb, a nurse who moved to the Isle two years ago, ... disagreed with the strikes and says that teachers should get back to work.

'The discipline is down to the law as far as I am concerned. Just as we have to bow down to our patients, they have to bow down to their pupils.'

Anyone aware of the NHS 'bowing down' to anybody? Anyone? Bueller? 

'I'm really old fashioned. It doesn't matter what school a child is in - if they want to learn they will learn.'

'There's always been issues with pupils. And unfortunately, the issue starts with a lot of the teachers are frightened of the parents because they can be very challenging.'

If the parents are 'challenging', you can imagine how the children behave... 

The trainee, who has been there for 18 months, said: 'Students verbally abuse teachers – arguments about phones are constant as well as the use of the iPads which we loan them. 'I've seen a chair thrown at a teacher. I've seen a gang of four students chase a teacher into the staff room.

'Those who criticise us striking are wrong – regardless of what the children have said or what they've done we still go back every day and give them a clean slate.

'But if we have an incident in class and we need a student removed and we send a call out, no one comes. That's 20 minutes of learning time lost in a 50 minute session'.

Those children who are, like Deb insists, 'there to learn' are being let down. Why does no-one consider that? 

Ms Kahan and her family live in a large detached house on the same road as the Minster-on-Sea site – and have had to deal with students kicking down their fences four times since she has lived there. The multi-generational family have been left to shell out hundreds of pounds to replace the panels which stands next to a busy bus stop.

She said: 'Me and my husband have come out to speak to them so many times. These things are expensive, we've had to fix it four or five times.

'But they just give it back to us. They 100 per cent need to be disciplined more'.

Yes, they certainly do, but it appears no-one wants to, so nothing will change.