Child sent home for Bin Laden web search

Parents of 10-year-old Bucklebury pupil say school's reaction was "completely over the top"

THE PARENTS of a 10-year-old boy have said their son's school in Bucklebury has over-reacted by excluding him from school for two days for typing the words “Bin Laden” into a search engine during an IT lesson.

The father said his son was immediately removed from the class at Bucklebury Primary School on Tuesday and sent home.

The boy's parents said a letter given to them by the school indicated he had been excluded for “showing disrespect” and that he had typed “Bin Laden jokes” before being admonished by a teacher.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the boy's father said the school had gone “completely over the top” in their actions, and he was unhappy with their reasons for excluding his son.

“We can't believe it, we are so angry. it's a total farce. He is 10 years of age, there was no malice involved, he watches the news and sees these things and that was all he has done. Fair enough if they need to speak to him about it and reprimand him but to send him home for two days is embarrassing.”

The boy's mother said her son had typed “Bin Laden” into Google and “Bin Laden jokes” was the second returned search term, which is what he had been picked up on.

She added that she felt the school had been heavy-handed in their approach and was worried that the incident would cause problems when he moved to a secondary school.

The headteacher of Bucklebury Primary School, Pippa Rowe, said: “In this matter we believe that we have taken appropriate action. To respect confidentiality of children, we would not discuss issues such as this in public, but only with the parents, child or any relevant party.”