School accused of ‘emoji shaming’ pupils gets thumbs down from parents

A SCHOOL is at the centre of an “emojishaming” row after using sad or smiley faces to display pupils’ exam progress.

Year 11 pupils’ GCSE progress was publicly exposed with an emoji next to a printed photo of the student’s face.

St John Fisher Catholic School, in Chatham, Kent, announced the move at an assembly after Ofsted inspectors said it “requires improvement”.

After a complaint from at least one parent that her son felt he was being “publicly shamed”, Dympna Lennon, the head teacher, apologised for any upset the board caused. The mother, who did not want to be named, said: “St John Fisher think that it’s OK to put children’s photos up on a board rating them from red to green – red meaning kids who aren’t doing too well, green meaning students that are, in the corridor for the whole school to see sad and happy emoji.” The school said it was intended to push pupils to get better exam results.

Ms Lennon added: “An assembly was held four weeks ago with the Year 11 pupils to advise them that their overall GCSE progress score would be displayed on the wall to help encourage and motivate them. Pupils were offered the opportunity to speak with teachers if they had any concerns around this.”

An Ofsted report from May said: “Teaching and learning has been inconsistent. As a result, too many pupils have not made the progress that they are capable of.”