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[Abe Scrap]

Grandmother interrogated by cops for looking out own window

* by Brendan Hughes, South Wales Echo
* May 21 2011


Tracy Tamplin feels "victimised" after peeping tom allegations

A grandmother has spoken of the distress of being questioned by police after a neighbouring school allegedly accused her of being a peeping Tom.

Tracy Tamplin, who suffers from mobility problems, claims the officers said she was seen looking out her bedroom window at children in the school playground beside her back garden. She also claims they told her she should get frosted glass in her windows to block out the view of the school playground from her home.

Cardiff council and South Wales Police said no formal complaint was made, no offences were committed and the matter had been resolved.

Ms Tamplin said: �I feel victimised in my own home. I do look out my window � but I�m not a paedophile. I�m wandering around now, I have got all my curtains closed and I�m terrified.�

Ms Tamplin, 50, lives alone in United Welsh social housing in Clos Y Gelyn, Pentwyn, Cardiff. Her cul-de-sac borders the playground of The Hollies School for children with special needs, aged between four and 11.

Ms Tamplin�s bedroom, bathroom and landing windows overlook the playground. Her back garden is next to the school grounds, separated by a wooden panel fence.

Police officers called at Ms Tamplin�s home about 10.30am on Thursday after the school reported �suspicious activity� at the property.

Ms Tamplin said officers questioned her about reports that she was peering out her bedroom window and over her garden fence at the youngsters.

�They said I was looking over my fence,� she said. �I can�t even sit up there in my condition.�

Ms Tamplin is being treated for a slipped disk and is on medication. She said she finds it difficult to move and has a carer who comes to help around her home.

The grandmother of three added: �The doctor wants to keep me away from as much stress as possible, and my only bit of enjoyment is the garden.

�I just think it�s absolutely disgusting the way the police treated me. I�m absolutely shocked.�

[Abe Scrap]

Schools ban parents from wearing pyjamas at drop off

Winston Churchill conducted some of his important wartime meetings clad in his silk dressing gown and Michael Jackson turned up to court in pyjama bottoms and slippers. But one English town has decided to put an end to people wearing nightwear during the daytime.

21 May 2011

Head teachers across 11 schools in Middlesbrough have written to parents asking them to show decency and respect when attending school premises and dress properly.

The schools said they were concerned by the number of parents wearing pyjamas when they turned up to school for the morning drop-off and afternoon pickup as well as attending meetings with teachers, sporting bedwear.

Their action comes a year after Tesco in Cardiff was forced to put up signs in store not to shop in their pyjamas or barefoot, after it complained about the number of people popping into buy cigarettes without having got dressed. The authorities in Shanghai were so concerned about its image in the run up to the World Exp 2010, that it told its citizens to ditch the long-established custom of wandering the streets in pyjamas.

The 11 primary schools which form the cluster in east Middlesbrough � North Ormesby, St Alphonsus, Berwick Hills, St Pius, Park End, Pallister Park, Pennyman, Thorntree, Corpus Christi, Brambles Farm and Caldicotes � have agreed on the policy.

Chris Kemp-Hall, head teacher at North Ormesby and chair of the cluster group, said: "We all have the opinion that appearing at school dressed in pyjamas isn't the right way to go about things...

[johnnyenglishteacher2]

Slightly misleading there Abe - the headline says that schools have banned parents from wearing pyjamas to school, while the article claims that they have merely asked.

[Dan Gerous]

^ Good catch.

Perhaps we should ban imagination next?

Two seven-year-olds punished for playing soldier

By Murray Wardrop, Daily Telegraph May 31, 2011

A primary school in England that disciplined two 7-year-old boys for playing army games has been condemned by parents.

Teachers ruled that the games amounted to "threatening behaviour" and reprimanded the two boys after they were seen making pistol shapes with their fingers.

Teachers broke up the imaginary classroom shootout and contacted the youngsters' parents, warning them such behaviour would not be tolerated.

Nathaniel Newton Infant School in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, which caters to around 180 children ages 4 to 7, said the gun gestures were "unacceptable" and were not permitted at school.

However, parents have described the reaction as "outrageous," while family groups warned "wrapping children in cotton wool" damages their upbringing.

A father of one of the boys said: "It's ridiculous. How can you tell a 7-year-old boy he cannot play guns and armies with his friends?

"Another parent was called for the same reason. We were told to reprimand our son for this and to tell him he cannot play guns any more.

"The teacher said the boys should be reprimanded for threatening behaviour which would not be tolerated at the school."

Parenting groups condemned the school's reaction to the children's game of soldiers, warning that it risked causing a rift between the school and parents.

The case follows a string of similar incidents in which children's playtime activities have been curbed by overzealous staff over health and safety concerns.

Earlier this year, a Liverpool school banned youngsters from playing soccer with anything other than sponge balls because they feared youngsters might get hurt.