‘Disruptive’ pupil forced to sit in passage alone until he finds new school

● A mother has accused a private school of isolating her son from the rest of his class by forcing him to sit at a desk in a corridor until she finds another school for him.

The 10-year-old Grade 5 pupil at Curro Helderwyk in Brakpan, on Gauteng’s East Rand, has been sitting in a passageway in the administration block since last Thursday after getting 15 demerit points for, among other things, disruptive behaviour in class.

The operational head of the primary school, Colette Roets, informed the boy’s mother in an e-mail dated April 18 that he would have to leave the school.

The school had met the boy’s mother and grandmother on March 16 and it was agreed that should he be given 15 demerits, the family would have to remove him.

In her e-mail, Roets spoke of two further incidents of misconduct after the boy had received the 15 demerits. “After the soccer game yesterday, he clapped his hands at his team and said: ‘Well done, you suck.’ ”

Roets also said the boy did not work in class, adding: “The teacher asked him why he hasn’t done his work. He replied: ‘I don’t need to work. I am leaving this place.’

“Therefore he will be sitting up in the office until he goes to his new school. We will kindly supply you with a transfer card,” Roets told the boy’s mother in the e-mail.

The mother told the Sunday Times: “It’s heartbreaking. I just hate that policy of isolation; it’s totally inappropriate. He [her son] even said: ‘That school, they can embarrass you, yoh.’ ”

She said she had sent her son back to school in the hope that he would be sent back to class. “Why couldn’t they give him responsibilities? For example, the naughty ones could be sitting next to the teacher so that they could be monitored more closely.”

Roets said she would not comment until she had spoken to the school’s executive head.

Curro Holdings spokeswoman Mari Lategan said it was contrary to its policy to discuss the details of such a case.

“We can confirm that in a case with behavioural challenges, we acted in line with Curro’s internal procedures and policies. In this process Curro had to consider the identified learner, who continued to receive all his academic work during this time, as well as the other learners to whom we have the same obligation in terms of the uninterrupted provision of education.”