Parents of girls at a grammar school in Kent have reacted with fury after the head cancelled an end-of-year ball because of pranks by pupils.
The tradition of muck-up day, when teenagers cause havoc at school on their last day of lessons, backfired at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls when Deborah Stanley failed to see the funny side when pupils put itching powder on lavatory seats and smeared washing-up liquid on the stairs. She has scrapped the prom for the entire year group, who are starting their GCSE exams.
Parents said they would organise an alternative prom for their “devastated” daughters and that the 180 girls were upset that everyone was being made to pay for the actions of a few.
Deborah Stanley, the head teacher, said the pranks had “impacts on the health, safety and wellbeing of all in the school community”
One parent, who asked