Pupils protest at head’s ‘Big Brother’ tactics

A LEADING independent school has admitted it monitors pupils’ social media accounts to ensure they are not criticising the school online.

The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, in Elstree, Hertfordshire, made the admission amid an ongoing dispute between senior staff and pupils over its alleged Big Brother methods.

Four years ago, the school controversially took students’ fingerprints without their parents’ permission. Former pupils told The Daily Telegraph that the feud began after a student was reportedly suspended for criticising a recent “Pride assembly”, which he claimed was only “for show”.

In response, pupils have put up posters criticising the school’s no-tolerance approach to subversion, while others have been told to take down social media comments criticising its methods. One poster reads: “The intrusion of personal privacy, the rattling out of students... confirm that senior management is indeed Big Brother.”

A former pupil told The Telegraph: “The school monitors what students are doing and punishes anyone who criticises anything they do.”

Peter Hamilton, the headmaster, responded that while the school did “keep an eye” on pupils, it was not “draconian” and openly encouraged “debate on complex issues”.

“I don’t have a bank of screens in front of me that measures every twist and turn. There’s nothing draconian. We did have an LGBT week and it went off really well. You get some posters being put up, but it’s got nothing to do with gay pride at all. We’ve been pretty upfront and open on all of those things.”