ANGRY pupils have staged protests against a radical shake-up at Basingstoke's biggest secondary school.

Scores of students at Brighton Hill Community College, in Brighton Way, joined in the demonstrations on Friday after they were informed of changes to the tutor group system due to come into effect in September.

Pupils gathered on the school field and refused to return to class after their morning break, and did the same thing again after the lunch break.

The protests were against a system called vertical tutoring, which would see tutor groups comprise pupils from every year group. Brighton Hill is set to become the first school in Basingstoke to introduce the new regime.

Commenting on Friday's protests, headteacher David Eyre told The Gazette: "Some of the students have seen the opportunity to negotiate in a rather different fashion to how we would prefer, saying that they do not like change and do not want this.

"At the end of morning break, a small minority of pupils went to the far end of the playing field as a protest before lots of other pupils joined in - probably about 150 altogether.

"Some students have been upset that others have been taking advantage of missing lessons."

Teenagers in Year 9 and Year 10 were the main protesters, missing afternoon lessons as they congregated on the school field. There, they were supervised by teachers.

"If they chose to be restless, we decided we would let them do so until they burnt it out," said Mr Eyre. "We made sure staff were out and about to ensure the students were not hurting each other or anyone else."

Despite the protests, the school - which has 1,282 pupils - is pressing ahead with plans to begin vertical tutoring in September, although there is still room for discussion.

Mr Eyre said: "This is not a done deal. We want people to have their say. But the plan, as it stands, is to introduce this in September."

Vertical tutoring would affect the daily 30-minute session that pupils spend in their tutor groups. Ten tutor groups would form a community and the school would have six communities.

Pupils are currently in tutor groups with other students in their school year - the way most schools have been organised for years.

Mr Eyre said: "The idea behind vertical tutoring is to create a greater sense of community than we currently have in a very large school.

"Sadly, the extended-family concept has been lost in 21st century society and many children do not live with both parents or sit down and share meals with their siblings.

"I believe, as a headteacher, I have got to do something to create a slot in the day when children of 11 and those aged 16 actually get the opportunity to share time together.

"People are saying an 11-year-old is too scared to share time with a 16-year-old, but that's a terrible indictment of our society."

Vertical tutoring has been introduced in a handful of schools in Britain, but none so far in north Hampshire.Continued from page one

Mr Eyre said: "We have done a lot of research and other schools that have implemented this system have had similar experiences with protests at this stage of the implementation - it's a fear of the unknown.

"However, two years down the line, they are reporting significant improvements in terms of less bullying, and pupils feeling more safe and secure."

The school has encouraged pupils to make their feelings known in writing, and Mr Eyre said he will take these comments to the school governors before coming back to the students and parents.

Do you have a view on the idea of vertical tutoring? Write to The Letters Editor, Gazette Newspapers, Gazette House, Pelton Road, Basingstoke, RG21 6YD or e-mail editor@basingstokegazette.co.uk

First published: Monday, May 15, 2006