11-10-2009, 08:19 PM
Pupils terrified after arriving at school to bloody crime scene... which was lesson on 'problem solving'
Returning after the half-term break, the boys and girls at Foxhill Primary were shocked to find their school had been the subject of a violent break-in.
Children as young as five were greeted with a distressing scene: 'blood' was on the floor and police tape had been erected to protect potential evidence.
Worst of all, a female teacher had a plaster on her head after apparently being attacked by an intruder.
Unbeknownst to them, the whole thing was fake and had been staged by teachers at the Sheffield school as part of an educational exercise.
Even worse, the headteacher had decided not to reveal the truth to parents.
As the week progressed, crime scene investigators arrived and pupils were involved in the inquiry to catch the culprit.
Parents today revealed that their children had been severely 'frightened' by the experience. One autistic boy of eight was so upset he didn't want to return to school.
Those who asked about the 'crime' were told it was fictitious. However, many of the 300 pupils aged from three to ten remained in the dark until receiving a letter at the end of the week explaining what had taken place.
Headteacher Nicola Shipman said parents weren't let in on the secret beforehand to keep the exercise as realistic as possible. But this decision was slammed by one mother as 'totally irresponsible'.
Mother-of-three Emma Whitehead, 28, said: 'The children didn't know anything about it. Some of them are just babies. They walked into the school hall and saw the blood and tapes.
'I have spoken to a number of parents and they are disgusted. A lot of children were frightened by the blood and the story they were told.
'I cannot see what the kids have learned from this. I can understand it if this had been done at a comprehensive school, but these children are too young to really understand what was going on.
'The school should have consulted parents first and given us a chance to object if we wanted to. I know a lot of parents would have done that. I actually saw the teacher still walking around with a plaster on her head two days after the fake attack.'
Mrs Whitehead and her husband Jonathan, 32, have three children Benjamin, five, Ellie, six, and Joshua, eight, at the school.
Engineer Mr Whitehead said: 'The school carried on pretending a crime had really taken place for four days and during that time the children believed a teacher had been injured and that their school had been broken into.
'To make it more convincing, South Yorkshire Police forensic officers went to the school and took the fingerprints of some of the children and a police officer spoke to the children about it.
'Surely the kids could have been told to imagine all this had happened rather than being told it was real? My son is autistic and we are still struggling to convince him that this was just make believe. He was so upset he didn't want to go back to school.'
Mrs Shipman, the executive headteacher, said the youngsters were asked to help police solve the crime and a real-life forensic expert worked with the children on tracing fingerprints, mapping out the scene and analysing handwriting.
'Essentially we asked them to become a mini-Sherlock Holmes,' she said.
'All the feedback we have had is that the children who took part all enjoyed the week and we have had some great pieces of work and a superb celebration assembly.
'The problem-solving week was held to cover key skills in the school curriculum from creative writing through to science, numeracy and analysis.
'We wanted to give the pupils a topic that would inspire their creativity and their imaginations which is why the crime scene was chosen.
'We did consider informing parents ahead of the week but we felt this might impact upon the children getting fully involved.'
Returning after the half-term break, the boys and girls at Foxhill Primary were shocked to find their school had been the subject of a violent break-in.
Children as young as five were greeted with a distressing scene: 'blood' was on the floor and police tape had been erected to protect potential evidence.
Worst of all, a female teacher had a plaster on her head after apparently being attacked by an intruder.
Unbeknownst to them, the whole thing was fake and had been staged by teachers at the Sheffield school as part of an educational exercise.
Even worse, the headteacher had decided not to reveal the truth to parents.
As the week progressed, crime scene investigators arrived and pupils were involved in the inquiry to catch the culprit.
Parents today revealed that their children had been severely 'frightened' by the experience. One autistic boy of eight was so upset he didn't want to return to school.
Those who asked about the 'crime' were told it was fictitious. However, many of the 300 pupils aged from three to ten remained in the dark until receiving a letter at the end of the week explaining what had taken place.
Headteacher Nicola Shipman said parents weren't let in on the secret beforehand to keep the exercise as realistic as possible. But this decision was slammed by one mother as 'totally irresponsible'.
Mother-of-three Emma Whitehead, 28, said: 'The children didn't know anything about it. Some of them are just babies. They walked into the school hall and saw the blood and tapes.
'I have spoken to a number of parents and they are disgusted. A lot of children were frightened by the blood and the story they were told.
'I cannot see what the kids have learned from this. I can understand it if this had been done at a comprehensive school, but these children are too young to really understand what was going on.
'The school should have consulted parents first and given us a chance to object if we wanted to. I know a lot of parents would have done that. I actually saw the teacher still walking around with a plaster on her head two days after the fake attack.'
Mrs Whitehead and her husband Jonathan, 32, have three children Benjamin, five, Ellie, six, and Joshua, eight, at the school.
Engineer Mr Whitehead said: 'The school carried on pretending a crime had really taken place for four days and during that time the children believed a teacher had been injured and that their school had been broken into.
'To make it more convincing, South Yorkshire Police forensic officers went to the school and took the fingerprints of some of the children and a police officer spoke to the children about it.
'Surely the kids could have been told to imagine all this had happened rather than being told it was real? My son is autistic and we are still struggling to convince him that this was just make believe. He was so upset he didn't want to go back to school.'
Mrs Shipman, the executive headteacher, said the youngsters were asked to help police solve the crime and a real-life forensic expert worked with the children on tracing fingerprints, mapping out the scene and analysing handwriting.
'Essentially we asked them to become a mini-Sherlock Holmes,' she said.
'All the feedback we have had is that the children who took part all enjoyed the week and we have had some great pieces of work and a superb celebration assembly.
'The problem-solving week was held to cover key skills in the school curriculum from creative writing through to science, numeracy and analysis.
'We wanted to give the pupils a topic that would inspire their creativity and their imaginations which is why the crime scene was chosen.
'We did consider informing parents ahead of the week but we felt this might impact upon the children getting fully involved.'