SHOCK AT ‘HELL AND PAEDOS’ HOMEWORK QUIZ
SCHOOL INVESTIGATING AS QUESTION REFERS TO ‘KIDDY FIDDLERS’
THE father of a 14-year-old girl has described as “shocking and inappropriate” options in a multiple choice RE quiz referring to “paedos” and “kiddy fiddlers”.
The homework was shared with pupils by Countesthorpe Leysland Community College.
Principal Catherine Aitcheson said the homework has been removed and the college is investigating how it came to be posted “as a matter of urgency”.
OPTIONS in a multiple-choice homework quiz sent out to pupils by a school included “a special hell for paedos/kiddy fiddlers”.
The choice, described by a parent who was shown the quiz by his 14-year-old daughter as “shocking and inappropriate”, was one of four to the question “What is purgatory for Roman Catholic Christians?” in a 92-question RE quiz.
The other three in the quiz shared with pupils by Countesthorpe Leysland Community College, were: A special hell for non-Christians until they are “convinced” to “accept” Christianity; Another name for hell; and, a place where some people can be purified for their yet forgiven sins before moving to heaven.
Another question in the quiz asked: “According to the Roman Catholic Church, who ends up in hell?” One of the answers was “paedos”.
Countesthorpe Leysland said the homework has been removed and it is investigating.
The dad said he was sent a screenshot of the quiz by his daughter. He said: “I sort of looked at it and thought it was weird but carried on working.
“Her message was saying ‘look at this’ and almost laughing at it in disbelief.
“Then I looked again and thought how inappropriate it was. I couldn’t believe it.
“When I got home we went through the rest of the quiz and that’s when we found the kiddy fiddlers answer.
“I couldn’t believe it. If it had said paedophiles that would have been weird enough but to use slang like paedos and kiddy fiddlers in a quiz for teenagers is just wrong.
“I can’t imagine a teacher saying it in a lesson. It’s the sort of thing a kid would shout out in class, not something you expect to see on homework.”
The dad said: “We left my daughter to do her homework on her own. She’s 14 – we trusted her to get on with it.
“I think other parents were shocked when me and my wife shared it online. You just assume that stuff from the school is safe to let them get on with.”
The dad said the school has told him a full investigation is under way to see if the work was set by a teacher at the school or uploaded from another source.
“Even if it’s an external thing, the school has still included it in the work set by them. It’s shocking, totally unacceptable and inappropriate.”
College principal Catherine Aitcheson said: “We started to investigate this as a matter of urgency as soon as we were made aware of it.
“It has now been removed from our online homework platform.
“We are still investigating how this has happened. This is the first time we have experienced anything like this from thousands of pieces of work set on this platform.
“The parent has been contacted and spoken to and is happy and reassured with how we have dealt with it.
“We have had no other contact from any other parents related to this. We thanked the parent for bringing it our attention so we could deal with it quickly.”