Head teacher uses resignation letter to tell parents to be tougher on their children

An outgoing head teacher has used her resignation letter to blasted mums and dads for their bad parenting.

Louise McGowan is due to quit in the summer and has urged parents to instill more discipline after five pupils were expelled.

Walderslade Girls’ School head claims parents actively fought against the school even in incidences when a child had been badly behaved.

She claims bad parenting is “ruining” the school.

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She sent the scathing letter home with children to all their parents, blaming them for unruly behaviour.

The head is leaving her job due to ill health after undergoing major surgery but wants to leave “the house in good order”.

During her five-year stint as head she implemented a tough ‘no-excuse’ stance to bad behaviour and has banned all pupils from bringing in electronic devices.

In the letter, she stated: “The fact five students this year have lost their places is unprecedented but I will not tolerate and never will tolerate extremes of poor behaviour that risk spoiling the school and the valuable education it provides for the majority of really wonderful students that attend here.

“More students now are ignoring the school’s rules on use of mobile phones, choosing to openly use them in front of staff without fear of consequence, refusing to comply with instructions to put them away and often refusing confiscations.

“We had several incidents where parents actively fought on behalf of the child against the school, even when it has been found through investigation evidence their child was in breach of the behaviour policy.”

Some parents were said to have refused to back the school’s efforts to implement sanctions and punishments for their children’s poor behaviour.

The crackdown came after a “host of unpleasant and quite frankly inexcusable attitudes from children, often starting at younger ages and worsening as children grow through teenage years”.

Louise returned to work after kidney surgery and says she had a “bee in my bonnet” about pupil’s behavioural problems.

She said: “I love my job, but it does require immense stamina.

“I am not on my knees but I have been in poor health. It has left me having to evaluate what I can do.

“After coming back after kidney surgery, I decided I wanted to sort out behavioural problems. I had a bee in my bonnet about it.”

Walderslade in Chatham, Kent, received a “good” rating from Ofsted in March 2014 and inspectors said the pupil’s behaviour had “improved”.

The head’s scathing letter received support among locals.

One said: “As a teacher for nearly 20 years, I can appreciate the stress levels that this lady’s body and mind have been under.

“Sadly it is a job that will shorten in many ways life expectancy, due the the direct and indirect effects of stress and long hours.”