Dear Parent / Carer
Thank you for your trust and support today. I sent an immediate message to reassure parents and carers as soon as I could today but I understand that this was limited in detail and that any incident in your child’s school can be unsettling.
Being part of our community, I have also heard some of the more outlandish rumours! I hope to provide a full and factual description of events here.
What Happened?
The incident today centred on one pupil who became upset and dysregulated. I respect this pupil’s privacy and share these details to reassure pupils and parents / carers.
This pupil was closely supervised by me and Mr Hyslop – DHT at all times. He was verbally offensive but posed no physical threat to pupils or staff.
Our assessment of risk changed when one verbal outburst made mention of using a weapon. Our first priority will always be to keep pupils and colleagues safe so at this point Police Scotland were called to assist.
Police Scotland were on-site in 8 minutes and removed the pupil from the school grounds within 5 minutes of their arrival.
The pupil was searched; he did not have any weapon.
Why did we go into ‘lockdown’?
Schools run like clockwork; the bell goes at the end of a period and nearly 1000 young people make their way to their next class. Today, one of these period change-overs would have coincided with a pupil being detained by Police. You will understand that this was not helpful or something we want our pupils to witness.
Equally you will appreciate that interrupting the usual rhythm of a large secondary school at short notice is not easy. This is why we have Evacuation and Safe Inside procedures and why we practice them every term.
Our lockdown procedures worked well. All pupils remained in their classes, supervised and safe. Police Scotland concluded their work. We returned the school to normal business with minimal disruption in less than 10 minutes.
What Next?
As shared by Police Scotland, the pupil has been charged with public order offenses.
School planning will ensure that this pupil’s remaining time in school will be limited, highly controlled and supervised. The behaviour exhibited today, and the disruption caused is unacceptable.
Any pupil distressed by the events of today should speak to their Pupil Support Teacher, Head of Year or me directly. We will do all we can to support.
I hope parents are reassured, as I am, by Stranraer Academy’s response today.
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Senior Teachers were supervising the situation throughout
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The school has a zero-tolerance approach to any suggestion of weapons in school – safety was prioritised
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The response by Police Scotland was immediate, in high number and highly effective
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Our ‘Lockdown’ procedures worked well, school staff responded quickly and to policy, pupil conduct was exemplary
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Police Scotland praised the school for the effectiveness of its response in supporting their work, I echo that praise to Police Scotland
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We will review the incident and include any learning in our procedures going forward
In conclusion, while the headlines of this incident sound alarming, the reality is that the whole situation was dealt with professionally, safely and with minimal disruption in less than 30 minutes. Pupils’ safety was ensured by school staff and police colleagues throughout. There was no weapon.
My biggest responsibility as Headteacher is looking after other peoples’ children. I believe you saw that in action today. I am proud of our team and our pupils and very grateful for the support of our community.
Thank you
Jamie Farquhar
