Scottish Sheriff Court Decisions

1. The pursuer is the father of M, who was born on 13 March 1985. The defenders are the education authority for the City of Dundee. They manage Menzieshill High School.

2. Up until the beginning of May 1999 M was a pupil in second year at Menzieshill High School. He had a good academic and disciplinary record. Production 1 for the pursuer is a certificate of merit for academic excellence dated 26 June 1998 in respect of M. Production 2 is his first year report dated November 1997. Production 3 is his first year report dated May 1998. Production 4 is his second year report dated February 1999.

3. Menzieshill High School consists of two blocks. The main block comprises three storeys rising to a height of some 40 feet. From that block on each side stretches a perimeter fence some nine feet high which surrounds the whole of the school grounds. The gates in this fence are secured by padlocks when the school is not in use. Within the grounds of the school is a physical education block. Entry to the physical education block from the main block is gained by a covered corridor.

4. During the evening of Sunday, 2 May 1999 the janitor secured all entrances to the school building and grounds.

5. On 3 May 1999 the school was closed for the May Day holiday. There were no events happening in the school during the whole of that day. No pupil at the school had any authority or reason to be within the school grounds at any time during that day.

6. During the evening of Monday, 3 May 1999 the school was set on fire. The fire caused extensive damage to the main block. The guidance base on the third floor was completely burned out. Other rooms on that floor were badly damaged by fire, smoke or soot. Soot was spread through many parts of the block by the ventilation system. There was also extensive damage caused by the water used by the fire brigade to put out the fire. The damage included computers being made inoperative and the destruction of portfolios prepared by students for public examinations in art. Many books were covered in soot. Immediately after the fire the cost of repairing the damage caused by it was estimated at between £200,000 and £300,000. At the date of the hearing of this application before me the estimated cost of repair had risen to £390,000.

7. The head teacher of Menzieshill High School is Mr Paul Taylor. At the date of the hearing before me he had been head teacher for three years. He had previously been head teacher of Linlathen High School for two years.

8. Mr Taylor was told of the fire by a telephone call to his home from his depute head, Mr Sturrock, at about 8.15 p.m. on 3 May. He immediately went to the school arriving there about 8.45. At that time the fire was still visible. Mr Taylor was informed by a member of the fire brigade that it was thought that the fire had been started at about 7.55 p.m..

9. Shortly after he arrived at the school Mr Taylor spoke to a police officer. This officer told him that three boys had been seen running across the roof of the main school building at about the time when the fire had started. Their presence there had been reported by two female pupils of the school. These pupils had told their parents who had called the police. When the police attended the school, they had seen that it was on fire and had called the fire brigade. The boys who had been seen on the roof had been detained or arrested and taken to Police Head Quarters in Dundee. M was one of these boys. All three boys were pupils of Menzieshill High School.

10. Access to the roof of the main block of the school can be gained from within the block. It can probably also be gained by climbing from the covered corridor which links the main block to the physical education block. There are no external fire escapes which would give access to the roof.

11. Tuesday, 4 May had been intended as an in-service training day for teachers at the school. The only pupils who were due to attend the school on that day were those sitting public examinations. These included 84 pupils sitting Higher English, 29 sitting an examination in Office and Information Studies and three pupils sitting for the Sixth Year Studies Certificate in English. Mr Taylor was concerned that, because of the damage to the school all these pupils would require to sit their examinations elsewhere. On 3 May at about 8.45 p.m. he contacted the defenders' Director of Education in order to inquire about the possibility of making contingency plans for pupils to sit examinations outwith the school. At about 9.30 p.m., having ascertained that the school hall and the computers to be used for the Office and Information Studies examination were undamaged, Mr Taylor again contacted the Director of Education and informed her that there would probably not be any need for such contingency arrangements to be made.

12. All pupils who had examinations on 4 May were able to sit them in the school. However, the pupils were unable to use the main entrance to the school because it was full of fire-fighting equipment. They required to be directed by the depute head teacher to the rear of the school whence the entered the examination rooms.

13. Because of the damage caused to the school in the fire no pupils, other than those sitting examinations, were able to attend until Monday 10 May. Pupils had examinations on 5 May but there were no examinations on 6 or 7 May.

14. News of the fire was made public by means of Radio Tay, a local commercial radio station and the local press.

15. On 4 May the staff attended the school for the in-service day. Mr Taylor held an emergency staff meeting to inform them about what had happened. He then requested that they should go to their rooms to ascertain the extent of any damage caused therein. The staff then spent their time attempting to clear up some of the damage caused by the fire. Members of staff were very upset as a result of the fire. Some of them had lost personal belongings in the fire. Some were in tears when they saw the extent of the damage.

16. On 4 May Mr Taylor had a meeting with a member of the C.I.D. of Tayside Police. The officer named the three boys who had been seen on the roof of the school. This was the first occasion on which Mr Taylor learned of their identities. The officer told Mr Taylor that all three were implicated in the incident which had resulted in the fire. The officer told Mr Taylor that each boy was denying his own guilt and blaming the two others for causing the fire. Mr Taylor asked whether the police had any further information about what had happened. The officer told him that they were not absolutely sure about who had done what but that that was not really relevant as all were involved. The officer said words to the effect that "if you fly with the crows you get shot with the crows".

17. On 4 May Mr Taylor made indirect contact with the pursuer. On 5 May Mr Taylor had a meeting with the pursuer and his wife, M's mother. M was not present. The pursuer and Mrs Wallace were very distraught. The repeatedly apologised for what M had involved himself in. The pursuer told Mr Taylor that he had not slept for two nights. Mrs Wallace was very tearful. The pursuer and Mrs Wallace said that they blamed themselves. They wondered whether they should have kept M in. Mr Taylor was sympathetic towards them and told them that he was not blaming them. At that meeting Mr Taylor said nothing about excluding M from school. He considered that to do so would be cruel. Little was said about the events of 3 May save that the pursuer and Mrs Wallace said that M had been running about with the other two boys concerned and they wondered whether they were to blame for allowing that. Neither the pursuer nor Mrs Wallace questioned the fact that M had been on the roof of the school on 3 May. They explicitly accepted that M had been at the school at the time of the fire. At the conclusion of the meeting Mr Taylor requested M's parents to keep him at home until he had had an opportunity to discuss the situation with his own line-manager.

18. Between 5 May and 14 May Mr Taylor discussed the position of M and the other two boys with the depute director of education who was his line-manager. He consulted with his senior management team within the school and with other members of the school staff. He also attempted to obtain further details of what had actually happened during the evening of 3 May.

19. Among the information obtained by Mr Taylor between 5 and 14 May was the fact that the names of the boys who had been seen on the school roof were well known to the pupils at the school.

20. On 14 May the effects of the fire were still obvious to anyone visiting the school. There were still signs of mess and debris.

21. Mr Taylor invited the pursuer, Mrs Wallace and M to come to see him at the school on 14 May. On that date only the pursuer attended. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss M's future educational position - whether he was to return to Menzieshill High School or to go to another school. As a result of the discussions referred to in finding 18 and all the information then available to him Mr Taylor decided that M should be excluded from the school. Mr Taylor told the pursuer that because the information available to him suggested very strongly that M had been concerned in the events surrounding the fire, he was not prepared to readmit him to the school. The pursuer told Mr Taylor that M had not set the fire. Mr Taylor told the pursuer that the reason for the exclusion was M's involvement in the incident rather than the setting of the fire as such. Mr Taylor understood that the pursuer accepted M's involvement and the seriousness of the incident. Mr Taylor told the pursuer that he considered it to be in M's best interests to apply to attend another school in Dundee. The pursuer stated that he was unwilling that M should attend any school other than Menzieshill High School. Mr Taylor excluded M from Menzieshill High School.

22. The other two boys who had been seen on the school roof were also excluded from the school by Mr Taylor.

23. Mr Taylor accepted that there was no evidence that any of the three boys had previously been involved in behaviour such as this. He considered that this incident was different from other acts of vandalism because of the tremendous impact which it had had on the whole school community. He explained this to the pursuer at their meeting on 14 May.

24. M's previous good academic and disciplinary record played no part in Mr Taylor's decision on the question of M's exclusion. Mr Taylor considered that if he had let this record persuade him not to exclude M it would have been seen as unfair and inconsistent by other pupils and their parents.

25. Exclusion from school is reserved for serious offences. Examples of offences which would be likely to result in the automatic exclusion of a pupil are an assault on a teacher, an assault on another pupil, swearing at a member of staff and serious vandalism. Other offences might result in exclusion according to their gravity. Before excluding a pupil Mr Taylor would attempt to investigate the alleged offence. He would in some cases interview witnesses. The question of exclusion of a child would be discussed with the child's parents and an attempt would be made in some cases to agree conditions for the child's readmission to the school.

26. Mr Taylor decision to exclude M from the school depended inter alia on the information which he had been given by the police to the effect that M was involved in the fire. Mr Taylor did not know what M's exact involvement had been. He was aware that M denied actually having set fire to the building. Mr Taylor accepted that M probably had not himself set the fire. His decision was based on the fact that M had been implicated in the fire raising incident by breaking into the school premises and being on the school roof at the time when the fire had started.

27. If all that M had done had been to climb up onto the roof of the school building at a time unrelated to the fire Mr Taylor would not have excluded him from school.

28. Mr Taylor considered that if M had returned to Menzieshill High School after the fire his presence there would have been resented by members of the teaching staff. While these teachers would have been expected to behave in a professional manner, it is possible that the resentment and annoyance felt by some might have been such that they could not have behaved in a wholly professional manner towards M. Mr Taylor considered that this would have been likely to be seriously detrimental to M's educational well-being and to the educational well-being of other pupils. He was justified in this view.

29. In May 1999 the school roll of Menzieshill High School was 900 pupils. The majority of these pupils were resentful and annoyed at the fact that the school had been set on fire. Their attitude was, "How dare they do this to our school?" Approximately 200 pupils were involved in public examinations in May 1999, and they were particularly upset about what had happened. Pupils were generally aware of the identity of the three boys, including M, who were alleged to be responsible for the fire. Mr Taylor considered that if M had returned to the school it was probable that some pupils would have taken their resentment and annoyance out on him. He may well have been physically attacked. Mr Taylor considered that this would have been seriously detrimental to M's educational well-being and the educational well-being of other pupils and to order and discipline in the school. He was justified in this view.

30. Mr Taylor considered that some of the pupils at Menzieshill High School would probably have looked upon M and the other two boys as heroes if they had returned to school. He considered that this would have been seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school. He was justified in this view.

31. Mr Taylor considered that it would have been bad for the morale of both staff and pupils if M and the other boys had been allowed to return to school within days of the fire. Some pupils would have had the impression that being involved in causing a fire in the school was not being taken seriously by the school management. Mr Taylor considered that this would have been seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school. He was justified in this view.

32. The pursuer referred Mr Taylor's decision to exclude M from Menzieshill High School to an appeal committee in terms of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, section 28H(1). On 1 September 1999 the Clerk to the Appeal Committee wrote to the pursuer intimating that the Appeal Committee had confirmed the exclusion order and advising him of his right to appeal to the sheriff.

33. As at the date of the hearing before me no proceedings had been taken against M in respect of the events at Menzieshill High School on 3 May 1999 either by the procurator fiscal or by the reporter to the children's panel.

1. For M to have continued to attend Menzieshill High School after 14 May 1999 would have been likely to be seriously detrimental to order and discipline in the school and to the educational well-being of pupils there.

2. Mr Taylor's decision to exclude M from Menzieshill High School was in all the circumstances justified and reasonable.