grinner
11-20-2004, 08:07 AM
Children's tears at 'end of the world' spoof
Deborah Haile
SPOOF: The end is nigh! Graphic: Nicola Cross
PUPILS at a Manchester school were left terrified after a teacher told them the end of the world was just days away.
During a morning assembly at St Matthew's RC High School, Moston, the head of year told youngsters that a giant asteroid was on a collision course with the Earth.
She is reported to have told the 13-year-olds that they would be allowed to leave school early so they could say their "final farewells" to their families.
The spoof story was designed to teach youngsters to live each day to the full. But a number of youngsters in the assembly believed the doomsday scenario and became upset - some reportedly burst into tears.
Officials at the school say that as soon as it became clear that some of the youngsters were anxious, the teacher made it clear that the tale was untrue.
After the assembly she visited each class to stress that the story had been made-up.
But the school has received a number of complaints from parents.
Commenting on the incident, headteacher Keith Hogan said: "The assembly was led by the head of year and its theme was `living each day to the full'.
Fictional
"To illustrate the point, the children were told a story suggesting that an asteroid was going to hit the the Earth.
"Unfortunately, a small number of pupils took the story literally and became anxious. As this became apparent, the head of year made it abundantly clear that the story was fictional and had been used to emphasise the theme of the assembly.
"Following the assembly, the head of year visited every year-9 class and again told students that the story was untrue and made every effort to ensure that those students who had been anxious were reassured."
Mr Hogan stressed that he had full confidence in the actions taken by the member of staff. "Obviously, I regret the fact that any student was distressed by the content and delivery of the assembly," he said.
"However, I am confident that the head of year acted appropriately and professionally in dealing with the incident."
Manchester councillor Alison Firth, Lib-Dem spokesman for education, believes the head of year went too far.
"This just seems to be over the top," said Coun Firth.
"These young people clearly didn't get the bigger picture, but focussed on the meteorite wiping out their families. You would expect many of them to be upset and to be crying and worried. I think this was an assembly too far."link (http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/education/s/137/137526_childrens_tears_at_end_of_the_world_spoof.h tml)
Makes you realize how powerful the original 'War of the Worlds' was...
Deborah Haile
SPOOF: The end is nigh! Graphic: Nicola Cross
PUPILS at a Manchester school were left terrified after a teacher told them the end of the world was just days away.
During a morning assembly at St Matthew's RC High School, Moston, the head of year told youngsters that a giant asteroid was on a collision course with the Earth.
She is reported to have told the 13-year-olds that they would be allowed to leave school early so they could say their "final farewells" to their families.
The spoof story was designed to teach youngsters to live each day to the full. But a number of youngsters in the assembly believed the doomsday scenario and became upset - some reportedly burst into tears.
Officials at the school say that as soon as it became clear that some of the youngsters were anxious, the teacher made it clear that the tale was untrue.
After the assembly she visited each class to stress that the story had been made-up.
But the school has received a number of complaints from parents.
Commenting on the incident, headteacher Keith Hogan said: "The assembly was led by the head of year and its theme was `living each day to the full'.
Fictional
"To illustrate the point, the children were told a story suggesting that an asteroid was going to hit the the Earth.
"Unfortunately, a small number of pupils took the story literally and became anxious. As this became apparent, the head of year made it abundantly clear that the story was fictional and had been used to emphasise the theme of the assembly.
"Following the assembly, the head of year visited every year-9 class and again told students that the story was untrue and made every effort to ensure that those students who had been anxious were reassured."
Mr Hogan stressed that he had full confidence in the actions taken by the member of staff. "Obviously, I regret the fact that any student was distressed by the content and delivery of the assembly," he said.
"However, I am confident that the head of year acted appropriately and professionally in dealing with the incident."
Manchester councillor Alison Firth, Lib-Dem spokesman for education, believes the head of year went too far.
"This just seems to be over the top," said Coun Firth.
"These young people clearly didn't get the bigger picture, but focussed on the meteorite wiping out their families. You would expect many of them to be upset and to be crying and worried. I think this was an assembly too far."link (http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/education/s/137/137526_childrens_tears_at_end_of_the_world_spoof.h tml)
Makes you realize how powerful the original 'War of the Worlds' was...