Pupils at Francis Combe Academy in Watford protest at rumoured staff redundancies

9:55am Wednesday 23rd March 2011 in News

Pupils walk out in protest over rumoured staff redundancies Pupils walk out in protest over rumoured staff redundancies

About a hundred students at a Watford school boycotted lessons this morning in protest at staff redundancies.

Pupils at Francis Combe Academy, in Horseshoe Lane, Garston, congregated on a grass verge outside the school at around 8.50am.

A school banner was torn down and “Save Our Teachers” was written on the back.

Police officers were called to the scene and moved students back from the pavement.

It is understood parents have been contacted to collect their children.

Students protesting have been excluded for the rest of today.

More to follow.

Comments(55)

anonatfranciscombe says...
11:32am Wed 23 Mar 11

i am a student from Francis Combe Academy and i have witnessed the protest that took place. the "rumours" are true and there really are redundancies being made, possibly as many as 12.

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anon34 says...
12:09pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Fair play to you all and huge respect for standing up for your teachers! power to the people and all that. How are they going to carry on a decent standard of eductaion at the school with a loss of 12 teachers !? I hope your voices are heard !

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watfordguymatt says...
12:12pm Wed 23 Mar 11

The school should do one, good on you to the students I say. When I was at school there would have not been any interest in the teacher's job safety at all.

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watfordguymatt says...
12:12pm Wed 23 Mar 11

The school should do one, good on you to the students I say. When I was at school there would have not been any interest in the teacher's job safety at all.

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garston123 says...
12:22pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I think its great that the students care so much and show some passion for their school. Whoever organised this should be congratulated and not punished, we don't want our schools turning out mindless clones - let people have a voice and the ability to protest and do something constructive to get their voices heard! Francis Combe talk about a school community, so take note and listen to your students.

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Teeny82 says...
1:22pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Full Respect to the students for standing up for their teachers.

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Suzy&helen says...
1:45pm Wed 23 Mar 11

helen: i walked down after hearing from a friend about the protest, as i got there i was shocked to see so many fellow pupils outside protesting, there were police moving sayin they were goin to arrest us if we didnt move?! why should we be moved just for protesting for our best teachers as some of us were outside teachers locked the other pupils in so they could not leave!!!!
suzy: Us students getting excluded for 2 days because when we have human rights and to make our point , this morning we were told we wasnt aloud back in the building and our parents were being told. Miss Duff and Miss Alan are 2 of the best teachers and shouldnt be leaving.
Ever since he came the schools got worse. Weres Miss Williams when you need her?

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kez6 says...
2:09pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I must say i am really proud of my daughter and her friends for standing up to what they think is right ..... This new head MR GILBERT needs a reality check . I think he is the one who need to be SACKED all ready. honk to save the teachers i. i think so keep it going kids .FREE SPEACH AND ALL THAT GO GOG GO

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mysay2 says...
2:19pm Wed 23 Mar 11

truthfully some of the protest was over gossip that girls will be made to wear skirts and ties next year! wow .... and it does not matter who is running the school Mr Gilbert, who i think will make great changes there, or Miss Williams who has undoubtedly made great changes there, budget cuts are what they are, and you have to cut back on staff if necessary, i have done it at work and it is a very difficult decision to make so if you have never had to do that, dont judge. Just because the money for the new build was kept it does not mean the school will be saved from any of the other cuts. Parents were warned of redundancies in staff -mainly support staff but others also, there is also a thing called voluntary redundancy and some may have chosen that, so dont jump up and down until you have ALL the facts. I wouldnt want the heads job for anything, what he needs is support not all this backstabbing.

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arsenalfaan says...
2:53pm Wed 23 Mar 11

this is out of order to take it out on the head teacher however the students are still aloud to make there personal comments. i understand why they have done this, Miss Allen and Mrs Duff are both amazing teachers and know way they should be getting made redundent. The head teacher should be lucky that the students are taking an interest especially in their education. I must say the person in the photo is a legend much love to him.!! very sexy hair ;)

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garston123 says...
2:56pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I have not seen any evidence that the protest was about uniform, it was about the redundancy of staff. The banners clearly said "Save our teachers", pupils have the right to voice a protest if they fear that their education will suffer. I still think that its a great achievement that school students were organised enough to arrange this and passionate enough to take action to get their point across. I am a local employer and I would be proud to employ these individuals, I see too many school leavers who have no drive or opinion on anything. If the headmaster wants any respect then he may also want to question the stupidity of excluding students to enjoy two days of sunshine, I hardly think he will prove any point there!

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topgear1000 says...
2:56pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I have to say that i am very proud of the students at Francis Combe, standing up for quality staff. It is in fact a testament to the staff who already work there that they have the support of their students, it shows real community spirit, which seems to get lost in'grades' and 'results' and ticking all the boxes required for ofsted. The heads job is a tough one but that is what they get paid more for, i don't think that Mr Gilbert has involved himself in the community enough to realise the true heart of the school and how the staff really do make an impact on the daily lives of their students. So you only have to ask yourself one question. How much is your children's education & happiness at school worth?

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pkh123 says...
3:04pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Well done francis combe standding your ground no matter what!
your all legands and have made fca history!
who ever started it well done!

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madmum45 says...
3:26pm Wed 23 Mar 11

i have a child in yr 10 at fca .and all i can say is ,if he wasnt out there i would be disappointed .they encourage in school ,to have freedom of speech.but obviously that doesnt count outside on a grass verge.make your minds up .and also i will be most unimpressed if i find out from my son later on if the fb rumors were true that the headteacher was trying to lock all the pupils back in the school .surely that is a fire hazard .which is just one of the problems i had when i read this

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kjenfoiwnelk says...
3:32pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I'm a student at francis combe school and was proud that students rised up and made a stand rather than being walked over. I understand Mr Gilbert's job must be a very hard one, but I feel that he does not fully understand the schools full ethos. Over the years Francis Combe has become like a family and the Support Staff, who are the ones actually being made redundant, have been the core of this. If any student has ever needed anything they are always there to turn to. They are someone to talk to who may not have the same authority as a teacher however, but they are always available to help. Who are students going to turn to when they need a new timetable? When they're being bullied? When they simply want someone to talk to?
I believe Mr Gilbert has not been at the school long enough to allow such drastic decisions to be made and I am proud of fellow students who have made the decision to protest against these decisions. It started out as peaceful protest, although the senior staff decided to threaten taking away Year 11 prom and Year 10 work experience and 'exclusion' for the day and tomorrow. They went about securing the school in the complete wrong manner, and I believe Mr Gilbert needs to assess the decisions he is making and the ones he will make in the future.
Francis Combe is not a boring old school, the thing that makes us special is that everyone within has a personality, whether it good or bad, and I feel we would do anything to stop that being taken away from us, hence the protests today.

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boundaryway says...
3:43pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I feel the students had every right to protest today, what some people do not realise is that the support staff are what makes a school. Without the support staff supporting the teachers how can you expect your child to recieve the best possible education? Support staff deal with the issues before the child even reaches their lesson. I feel the situation needs to be re-addressed for the sake of the future of the school and the students.

Mysay2; you sound like you work/run a business, a school is not and should not be run in this way. At the end of the day, children are there not only to read and write but also for life-skills which are equally as fundamental.

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scarlet1 says...
4:05pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Absolutely echo everything that mysay2 posted.

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support1 says...
4:25pm Wed 23 Mar 11

The school has been through so many changes over the last few years and not all for the best, it has already lost a number of quality teachers during the other changes but the loss of Miss Duff is an absoloute tragedy for pupils, parents and the school. Difficult decisions need to be made at this time I know but how can such drasitc decisions be made when Mr Gilbert surely cant know the staffs personal input and commitment in the short time he has been there. The Governing Body have alot to answer for as well. The support staff are more than just names on a list. Good for you pupils standing up for what is right.
The staff did lock the children in the school which is disgusting and dangerous. Staff lost control of their emotions and need to remain professional.

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topgear1000 says...
4:43pm Wed 23 Mar 11

i hope an authoritive figure is reading these posts as someone needs to be aware that 'children' were locked into school, which is disgusting, a H & S issue and surely illegal, If not a violation of human rights, don't animals get treated better? This has frankly been handled very badly, not a good sign for future leadership decisions.

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memyselfanon123 says...
5:21pm Wed 23 Mar 11

the protest has nothing to do ith the fact that girls may have to wear ties it was a serious matter, the students at francis combe supported the staff that they felt needed it. The fact they threated to take away year 11 prom and year 10 work experiance is awful and frankly i am proud that the students stood up for what they belived in.

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fca-student! says...
5:29pm Wed 23 Mar 11

i agree with most of these comments about having our right to speak freely. yes i was one of the students that was in the school at the time it all happened and we were locked in the school there were teachers at every exit/entrance and they were not letting anyone in or out! that made people mad and thats why there were more people joining the protest, i think that the protest was a brill idea because they should not get rid off the teachers that we need, but the teachers we dont need should off gone. MR GILBERT needs to consider that his students are protesting againist him because of wat he has done!! thank u

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watford_girl16 says...
5:36pm Wed 23 Mar 11

So proud that I used to go to this school, if I still went I'd be with the protesters as well, fair play! They are getting rid of the wrong teachers.

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ex fcs student says...
5:55pm Wed 23 Mar 11

The protests aren't about ties and skirts, they are genuinely about the redundancy of some great fcs teachers! im proud my brother is one of the students protesting...mrs duff is a great teacher whos served fcs for many years and it would be a great loss to Francis Combe if she where to go

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studentatfca says...
5:56pm Wed 23 Mar 11

i was a student at the protest today and i just want to say we did this for a good reason we dont want to look like bad people...we are loosing staff that we value a lot therefore we are going to react this way. One of the staff members that are going is the head of bullying, what i dont understand is who will sort out the bullying from now on? will it just be left to happen? us students have just as much right to put a point across as anyone else and it turned out a protest was the only way to get us heard. yes a school is a place for learning but we spend a lot of time there and everyone there is like a second family to us. what happened to freedom of speech? we do not deserve to be punished.

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watfordkid says...
6:11pm Wed 23 Mar 11

i am a student at fca and i fully agree with these protests! pupils not involved in the protest were distustingly locked inside the school with the doors locked and teachers at every door. One prostest shows that we care but if pupils are planning a second protest theres no point protesting for a second day cause its not going to change but one day is enough to show human rights and that we care!

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daniimccall says...
6:17pm Wed 23 Mar 11

all pupils have a voice. why should pupils be locked in classrooms . what if there was a fire ! how would have these children have been rescued. the children of today are our future thanks Mr Gilbert!

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straightnochaser says...
6:18pm Wed 23 Mar 11

As a former Deputy Head Boy at the school I, too, am proud that the legacy of responsible protest continues. More than 20 years ago when the Thatcher Government abolished benefits for 16 & 17 year olds to introduce YTS conscription, hundreds of Francis Combe students marched across the school field to make joint cause with Parmiters & St. Michael's students in a demonstration to Watford Town Centre & to join a Rally under the banner of the National School Students Union with pupils from all Watford schools. When politicians of all the major Parties pass the buck to School Headteachers, Council departments & GP's to make unacceptable cuts it falls to teachers, students, workers & service users to fight back. More power to your elbow I say...

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support1 says...
6:34pm Wed 23 Mar 11

I am outraged that the pupils have also received a 'detention' for being late. Now, given that they were late due to the protest which is part of the human rights surely the school cant impose sanctions for all of the children?

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Me13 says...
6:58pm Wed 23 Mar 11

anon34 wrote:
Fair play to you all and huge respect for standing up for your teachers! power to the people and all that. How are they going to carry on a decent standard of eductaion at the school with a loss of 12 teachers !? I hope your voices are heard !
i am a student at francis combe and i think the protest is good, fair enough if the head was getting rid of the bad teachers, but he is getting rid of a teacher who has got me from a grade f to a grade b, surly she should be kept in, and also the money that would of been the teachers wages next year were spent on name badges for us to wear and we only wore them for a couple of months so the money was wasted!

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watfordkid says...
7:00pm Wed 23 Mar 11

apparently 25 teachers are being made redundant and all a women!

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memyselfanon123 says...
7:18pm Wed 23 Mar 11

the fact that the student were given a detentions for being late is wrong people have the right to protest.

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fca-student! says...
7:59pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Mr Gilbert is sexist and just wants to get rid of most of the female teachers that help us! i think the more people protest the more mr leo gilbert might listen but still i dont think he will do anything to try and make us happier !!!!!!!!!

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That_one_guy says...
9:06pm Wed 23 Mar 11

As a student of FCA i saw the protest and i 100% argree with wahts going on, we should be able to express our views in a better way but letter upon letter has been written by students and parents and nothing is being done, this was a last resort. The things that are happening to that school are horrible, when miss williams was there it was agreat school, people were happy grades were going up and most of all the teachers were understanding, but now if your in trouble your in trouble no matter what the reason, even if it is not your fault, this is really un fair they say "its for the world of work" but im not working yet and we shouldent have to put up with the stress of constantly being put in dets, when we may have personal reasons. The point is the school need to re-think how they treat the students, where as now all they care about is the image doesent matter if one or two people lose their GCSE's on the way as long as we look good.

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ProtectEnglish says...
9:28pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.

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That_one_guy says...
9:37pm Wed 23 Mar 11

ProtectEnglish wrote:
Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
Lol....Were not Students were "learners" and im in like a low english group..You cant blame the teachers, cause some of them are helpful but its the head.

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kjenfoiwnelk says...
9:41pm Wed 23 Mar 11

ProtectEnglish wrote:
Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
that is completely unnecessary, students and pupils are one in the same and both have the right to protest, nevermind what grammar they have or whether they come from an 'Academy' or not.

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Tishh says...
9:55pm Wed 23 Mar 11

Well done us francis combe for standing up for the techers !!! if we want to get out point across this is the only way to be heard. there is no point in getting rid of these teachers beacuse us as children will have no education and i thought that what mattered most !! good on the people who protested.

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boundaryway says...
10:23pm Wed 23 Mar 11

ProtectEnglish - what an extremely petty thing to say. You quite cleary do not understand how these kids are feeling or the real problem, as usual someone who completely misunderstands the students at FCA.

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me1234 says...
12:12am Thu 24 Mar 11

i go to francis combe academy and to be honest its stupid how they excluded us for doing what we believe in
mrs duff saved this school
francis combe would be nothing with out her,
and also mrs allen,
without them bullying will carry on, noone will be happy and theres no one to make us laugh any more,
we need them and we wont stop until we get them back
the school locked children who were still inside in and there were teachers by every fire exit the police said there not allowed to do that and then they lied to the police saying they wernt allowed out the school for the safety of the bikes but really it was so we didnt get more people protesting,
its nothing to do with the rumors about the ties for the girls etc
its because we want to keep out teachers who are amazing
the watford observer came and i hope it puts out point across to be honest,
francis combe is a good school but without mrs duff it is nothing.
everyone was shouldnt for mr gilbert to leave because of how hes handled everything, hes new to the school and he already thinks he owns the world
fair enough that hes the head master but we was doing what we feel is right for the teachers we love,
also one of the teachers inside school came on our side and got the sack?
this isnt normal,
hopefully the watford observer helps us get our point across
there was around 80-90 of us outside school trying to get people to listen,
and it worked but now all we need to hear is there not going, other wise it will carry on and everyone just has the teachers to blame :)

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Jim_UK says...
7:23am Thu 24 Mar 11

Maybe they should sack the English Department instead, if these comments are anything to go by they're not fit for purpose anyway.

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garston tony says...
9:13am Thu 24 Mar 11

It is great to see students show passion for something they so obviously care about, but it does seem the protest did cross a line and it is right that the school (any school) doesn’t accept such behaviour regardless of the reasons why. However staff cuts arent an X Factor style popularity contest and there is no way the headmaster would have made the final decision on who went without thinking about and consultation on the matter thoroughly first and making his decisions based on what is best for the school not just today but in the future. I wish the WO would do some proper reporting and instead of allowing this anti head forum to run un challenged get the school and even the teachers side of the story for some balance. As has been mentioned before, for all we know the teachers may have taken voluntary redundancy

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cameluk says...
9:20am Thu 24 Mar 11

Was it really necessary to have a police presence there on Thursday morning ?

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Amanda-Jane says...
9:49am Thu 24 Mar 11

That_one_guy wrote:
ProtectEnglish wrote:
Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
Lol....Were not Students were "learners" and im in like a low english group..You cant blame the teachers, cause some of them are helpful but its the head.
ProtectEnglish - you may like to check your use of quotation marks, they are NOT for putting around single words!! You may also like to consider that some people have learning difficulties before making harsh comments. This is not a **** English exam!!!

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bobjim789456 says...
10:19am Thu 24 Mar 11

THIS IS PATHETIC. KEEP THE TEACHERS WE LIKE. MR GILBERT SHOULD GO. HE IS A WASTEMAN. SAFEE!!

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bobjim789456 says...
10:37am Thu 24 Mar 11

i think that all fca students should go protest on the field to say our last point, so everyonew go on the field at break and PROTEST!

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garston tony says...
10:46am Thu 24 Mar 11

To all those that are calling for the 'teachers we like' to be kept, just realise making redundancies is not a popularity contest. The popularity of a staff member should have little or nothing to do with the decision to keep them or let them go, the REAL world is not the like the finals of Xfactor or Britains Got Talent

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Nightreader says...
2:56pm Thu 24 Mar 11

ProtectEnglish wrote:
Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
Exactly what I was thinking. Still, in the interest of free 'speach' they should be 'aloud' to speak out...after all we wouldn't want to breach their 'uman rights!

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Me13 says...
4:43pm Thu 24 Mar 11

ProtectEnglish wrote:
Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
We are an academy so no need to use the "---". Also we have brilliant English teachers who teach us the correct spellings and grammar, we do not have to spell things properly and use the correct grammar all the time! Us STUDENTS are smarter than a large percent of adults in the world, so there. :)

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coolkid123 says...
8:28pm Thu 24 Mar 11

Gwannn memyselfanon123! What you all did was amazinggg and i think that it was a good thing :')

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studentatfca says...
9:35pm Thu 24 Mar 11

ProtectEnglish wrote:
Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
Is that all you can think about? The spelling and grammar on a computer? I would just like to point out that it is called quick text/slang and millions of people use this on computers and phones, we tend not to think about punctuation and grammer when typing on a computer. I would also like to point out that my year recieved some of the best grades in a long time. But if im honest I don't think any of this matters at the point in time we understand about the cuts but we are just very upset to be losing some of the best teachers in the school that we value a lot. Understandable? (hope my grammar and punctuation was up to your standards in this comment).

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fcastudent101 says...
2:12pm Tue 29 Mar 11

I have studied at Francis Combe now for 4years. Teachers such as Miss Allen and Mrs Duff should not be made redundent. There is other teachers that need to go before them. There is a teacher called Miss Nickleson who cannot controll her classes and has walked out a few times to go and cry. I feel that she is not an acceptable candidate to continue at the school.
When we had organised this protest we done it in the hope to solve things and not get punished for it. Our teachers encourrage us to voice our opinions so when we step out to do it we're punished. I speak on behalf of all the students and we ALL want rid of Mr Gilbert!!!!

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fcastudent101 says...
2:17pm Tue 29 Mar 11

Jim_UK wrote:
Maybe they should sack the English Department instead, if these comments are anything to go by they're not fit for purpose anyway.
it's called slang! i may talk like that when im on a computer or texting as it's shorter to type but i am a grade a student in english!!!

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luther blissett says...
3:38pm Tue 29 Mar 11

fcastudent101 wrote:
I have studied at Francis Combe now for 4years. Teachers such as Miss Allen and Mrs Duff should not be made redundent. There is other teachers that need to go before them. There is a teacher called Miss Nickleson who cannot controll her classes and has walked out a few times to go and cry. I feel that she is not an acceptable candidate to continue at the school. When we had organised this protest we done it in the hope to solve things and not get punished for it. Our teachers encourrage us to voice our opinions so when we step out to do it we're punished. I speak on behalf of all the students and we ALL want rid of Mr Gilbert!!!!
Come on WO, you can't have students singling out other teachers they want to go instead.

fcastudent101, you are not doing yourself any favours.

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luther blissett says...
3:43pm Tue 29 Mar 11

Amanda-Jane wrote:
That_one_guy wrote:
ProtectEnglish wrote: Reading the spelling & grammar in these comments, from those who now consider themselves "Students" rather than Pupils, we can but wonder is taught at Francis Combe "Academy" - it is certainly not the correct use of the English language.
Lol....Were not Students were "learners" and im in like a low english group..You cant blame the teachers, cause some of them are helpful but its the head.
ProtectEnglish - you may like to check your use of quotation marks, they are NOT for putting around single words!! You may also like to consider that some people have learning difficulties before making harsh comments. This is not a **** English exam!!!
Seems like a lot of them have learning difficulties. Is that why they got sent to FCA?

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kjenfoiwnelk says...
3:47pm Tue 29 Mar 11

love how rude people are about FCA. don't think people should pass judgements based on a few students at my school.

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