Yesterday was yesterday. Today, locally at least, the news has turned to Peter Harvey. The news story that has hung over our community for the past nine months finally came to an end: secondary teacher Peter Harvey was found not-guilty of the attempted murder of a pupil at All Saints' School. This is the school that IJ's primary school feeds into. This is the secondary school that I went to.
The news that Peter Harvey has been found not-guilty is good news, in my opinion. He was a popular teacher, well-respected by past pupils, who was pushed to the limit by the pupils he was trying to teach; a teacher under extreme stress who should have received greater support from the professionals around him.
When the news broke in July last year that a pupil had been attacked with a dumbbell in the science block, the entire community was in shock. A Catholic school with a caring with a caring ethos, questions were asked to how on earth this could happen. The scenes of police and press reporters camped outside the school's entrance, reporting the story for the world to see, was disturbing, for both pupils and parents to witness.
The boy who was attacked is reported to have made a full recovery. He has moved on to a different school.
Of course it is not acceptable for a teacher to attack a pupil in their care. Peter Harvey pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm without intent. Quite frankly, he should not have been in the classroom; someone needs to be held accountable for the fact that he was. Policies and procedures need to change. At the end of the day, teachers under extreme stress need extra support.
Nor it is acceptable for pupils to swear at a teacher, to gode him to see what effect it will have on him knowing he is in a vulnerable state, and to then record his distress on a mobile phone. It is a poor reflection of the state of some secondary school classrooms today. I hope this is an isolated case of poor pupil behaviour but I suspect it may not be.
I now hope Peter Harvey is able to start re-building his life. And I wish the young fourteen-year-old boy well too. There are no winners in this case but finally there is some closure.
The question now is: what is really going on in our classrooms?
