'THIS IS THE LAST TIME SHE'LL ATTEND SCHOOL'
THIS is the moment a fuming dad marches up to a headteacher who sent 50 kids home on the first day of school for wearing the wrong uniform, and tells him his daughter will no longer be attending the school as she is refused entry AGAIN.
The father of Kim Hopper had it out with head Matthew Tate, after his daughter was turned away yesterday from Hartsdown Academy, in Margate, Kent, due to wearing the wrong cardigan - which had been bought from the school shop - and was today told she was wearing the wrong shoes and unable to go in.
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Mr Fallon, whose first name is not mentioned, is filmed marching up to Mr Tate, who is standing outside the school gates checking pupil's uniforms.
As he arrives with Kim, Mr Tate tells her: "These are not school shoes i'm afraid."
Mr Fallon argues his case, saying they are "black" and "every day" shoes, but is told they are not "plain black leather shoes".
He asks if this means he must buy Kim new shoes, and is told "yes" before responding: "I'm absolutely disgusted by this behaviour, I think it's absolutely abhorrent.
"Yesterday's refusal letter mentioned nothing on the shoes she was wearing yesterday. So we are moving the goalposts."
Mr Tate says: "I'm sorry you feel that way, this is not the uniform policy."
Mr Fallon confirms: "So you are refusing to let my daughter into school?
"This will be the last day she will attend this school, full stop."
Police were called back to Hartsdown this morning after 20 children were again denied access for the same reason.
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Speaking on today, Mr Tate claimed the majority of parents backed the move.
He also claimed some kids were bullied for wearing the right uniform and said the decision was “the first step” to making the school a “great place to be”.
Mr Tate said: “This is about setting the standards for this school.
“This school for a long time has been a school that many people have been ashamed of and that people haven’t wanted to go to.
“We set out yesterday that actually this is a school that is going places.
“This school is going to be an amazing place for children to have a great education and actually we are going to create a school where children are proud to be here and that the community is proud of this school. And this is the first step to doing that.”
But when asked whether he thought such a “draconian” measure would get parents on side, the teacher claimed to already have their backing.
He continued: “The vast majority of our parents have actually communicated that they are pleased that we are doing this.
“What I have been told is that we have got Year 11 and older students who in the past were victimised because they were wearing the perfect uniform.
They were doing the right thing. I have had parents saying that they stood up to their children’s hassle power when they were getting their uniform.
“And then they got to school and the majority of children, they feel, aren’t wearing the right thing. So I am standing up for those parents.”
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But many parents were unhappy with what they called “ridiculous” uniform rules – with many claiming to have bought the offending clothes from the official school shop.
One of those sent packing was Year 7 pupil William King who has a doctor's note saying he needs to wear trainers following hip replacement surgery after he was hit by a car.
His mum Sharon likened the headmaster to the Gestapo after he allegedly told her he was "happy" for the youngster to be in pain all day.
She told Sun Online: “I’ve got a daughter in Year 11 with hypermobility who has worn Nike Air Max for the past three years and has never had a problem, so I just assumed it would be the same for William.
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“As soon as we arrived at the gates William was stopped along with many other Year 7s because they were going in an hour early before the other pupils.
“He was singled out and told he needed to change his footwear, I tried to explain it was on medical grounds but the headmaster was having none of it.
“I phoned my daughter, who was at home, and she brought down a scruffy old pair of shoes.
“When she got there, I said to the headmaster ‘if he wears these all day he’s going to be in pain tonight – are you happy with that?’ and he actually said ‘yes’.”
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