Page 3 Profile: Aaron Parfitt, schoolboy

So what’s this chap been reprimanded for – fighting in the playground?

14-year-old Aaron Parfitt has been excluded from his school after organising a protest against a lack of homework and good teaching.

Wait, did you just say he wants MORE homework?

Yes. This politically active teenager got so sick of complaining to his teachers, Blackpool Council and even Ofsted about what he considered a sub-standard education that he staged a walk-out of lessons last Wednesday. He claims to have been supported by 100 of his classmates, who congratulated him on the protest and rallied behind him.

What were his problems with the teaching?

Aaron said he “just wanted to make sure [he] could do the work properly” and grew concerned after he failed a maths test and as there was a high staff turnover. He tried to complain to the school and the authorities, but they kept passing him around and couldn’t help.

I bet the teachers weren’t too happy with that…

Not at all. The staff at Bipsham High School in Blackpool told him he was not allowed to come to school for the next two days, and organised a meeting with his mother, Janet. Now Aaron claims he has been excluded again, ahead of the meeting.

What did the school think?

Last year the school was placed under special measures by Ofsted, who commented on the low standards of teaching, and the head teacher Deborah Hanlon-Catlow admits that it is still in a “challenging” period. They refused to comment on an individual case.

He only wants to learn – what good will excluding him do?

It’s not the first time that a pupil has been excluded for seemingly silly reasons. Just last month, six-year-old Riley Pearson was expelled from Colnbrook C of E Primary School after teachers discovered cheese snacks in his lunchbox, which are banned by the school.