Four pupils kicked out of school over violent altercation that left teenager in hospital

Rotherham Council has confirmed that action has been taken against 29 children at Clifton Community School after parents were sent a letter by executive headteacher David Hudson OBE to explain the decision.

It follows an incident on Monday, January 18, that resulted in a 15-year-old boy being taken to hospital after an altercation between a large group of students.

Mr Hudson said ‘bullies have no place in our school’ and blamed the violence on a ‘very small number of constantly poorly-behaved students’.

In a strongly-worded letter, he also criticised some parents for their actions.

He said: “Inevitably, there will be those who look to unfairly blame others for anything and everything that is perceived to go wrong. Indeed, this could, regrettably, be described as ‘normal’.

“It is not and never will be ‘normal’, however, for young people or their parents to massively over-react to minor fall-outs, to be violent just because they can and to prevent the vast majority of our students from receiving the education they deserve.

“A very small number of constantly poorly-behaved students attempted to wreck the business of our school and to terrify our hardworking and well-brought up students in the process.

“These bullies have no place in our school and we will not let them ruin all of the hard work that staff, students and parents have engaged in.

“Any parent of a student that continues to expect to behave as they want when they want and/or to be violent in or out of school should move to a different school as soon as possible.”

Mr Hudson added that ‘99 per cent’ of students are ‘committed and polite’.

Rotherham Council children’s services director Ian Thomas said: “We have offered the school access to specialist services including family engagement and community support.

“We are also helping families whose children have been excluded from school to find alternative school placements.”

He said council staff had found a ‘calm atmosphere’ when they visited the school the day after the fight.