A SCOTS school has been labelled “shameful” after cancelling the prom for senior students after a “harmless” set of pranks were carried out.
Rosshall Academy in Glasgow came under fire this week after headteacher Pauline Swan emailed parents to confirm that the event had been cancelled.
The decision came after school leavers were allegedly locked out of the school premises for what would have been their last day of school.
This resulted in seniors seemingly breaking into the school balcony and setting off flour bombs, throwing smoke bombs and sardines, and causing damage to a door.
The decision to cancel the prom has left parents and students alike heartbroken, with one anonymous parent claiming that this will affect one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.
An image shows an email sent from headteacher Pauline Swan which reads: “Dear parent/carer,
“I am writing to inform you that due to the incidents which occurred in school with a group of our S6 pupils on Friday 19th April, regrettably holding the S6 Prom as initially planned is no longer viable.
“I am aware that this impacts on young people who were not involved in Friday’s incidents, and I regret that this is the position we are in.
“The school are now considering a celebratory event to hold for pupils who weren’t involved in Friday’s incident.
“Further information about return of money paid will be communicated in due course. If you have any queries please contact your child’s House Head.”
Speaking today an anonymous parent said of the incident: “What happened on Friday was that pupils who came into school found themselves locked out of the school building.
“They’ve rocked up for their last day of school – highly energetic and excited – because it’s a momentous transitionary day and they found themselves locked out of school.
“That’s caused frustration.
They’ve managed to get in – there’s a balcony in the school – and they were throwing eggs and flour bombs and I believe a smoke bomb was also left.
“The kids were ushered off the premises and told to leave and be gone by mid-morning, as I understand it.
“Then, on Friday afternoon, a letter was sent out from the school that said there had been acts of vandalism by some S6 pupils and that damage had been done to the school, and that the school was working in partnership with the police to investigate what had happened.”
She added: “My first instinct was this happens every year, why are [they] picking on this cohort?
“What did the school expect was going to happen when kids turn up for their last day of school and were locked out of their school – it’s not just the teachers’ school.
“It doesn’t look great, it looks noisy, it looks messy. It looks like a lot of young people who are highly energetic, but this is completely normal for every year group.
“Of course there are always some who take it too far. I think this cohort in particular have a lot of deep feelings.
“This is the year group who would have been in S2 when lockdown was announced, so they lost most of their S2 year, most of S3 and came back in to school at the start of S4 and were the first pupils to go through SQA exams after having two years of disrupted education.
“Out of this cohort, there’s about half of them that made it through to S6 from the number that started S1, so there’s been quite a drop off pupils.
“There’s also a cohort that [left] because their experience of the pandemic was so awful that it just wasn’t feasible. Their needs weren’t being met.
“Rosshall Academy is situated in an area with multiple deprivation. It’s one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.
“They took on quite a number of Ukranian refugee children who are part of the community.
“They’re a school that services a community that has quite a lot of really extreme needs and it just feels entirely disproportionate that for a couple of hours of madness one morning, the school has chosen to write off six years of these kids’ experiences and their journey through education and this transitionary period.
“The school actively made a choice not to celebrate these kids, I’ve heard of other schools that do leavers assemblies and take the kids away to outdoors centres and do team-building activities and Rosshall could have done all that.”
The anonymous parent concluded: “There was no attempt to discuss with parents how to approach this really momentous moment for the pupils and how the parents in the school could work together to collaborate and mark the end of the school career.
“It’s such a shame because, for a couple of pockets of bad behaviour, caused by the school not being more thoughtful about how to mark this last day and locking the kids out of their own school – you now have prom being cancelled for all of the kids and it just feels rubbish.
“Landing this on the kids amidst their exams – shameful.”
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “Unfortunately, due to the unacceptable behaviour of some pupils, the school has been left with no other option but to postpone the annual S6 prom. “We understand this is disappointing for many young people, however, the school is now looking to hold an alternative celebratory event at a later date.
“These acts of vandalism are totally unacceptable and have caused serious damage to school property, as well as having compromised the health and safety of students and staff.
“The incident has been reported to the police to be investigated and anyone with any information should contact the police.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On around 10.45am on Friday, April 19, 2024, we received a report of a disturbance within a premises on Crookston Road, Glasgow.
“There are no reported injuries. Enquiries are ongoing.”
Rosshall Academy has since refused to comment.
