No. 224

English school headmaster 'kidnaps' groundskeeper for shocking class assignment

SHOCKED students at an English primary school looked on in horror as their groundskeeper was seemingly kidnapped at gunpoint -- before the episode was revealed to be a prank, with the school's headmaster playing the lead role.

Clive Close donned white overalls and a wig and brandished a metal tap fitting as a fake firearm as he bundled Phil Reid into his Audi and sped away from Wincheap Foundation Primary in Canterbury, southeast of London, Kent Online reported.

Students aged 10 and younger looked on in surprise, but were told afterward that the seizure had been staged and were invited to write about it as part of a class assignment.

Police were not informed of the mock-crime beforehand and one student's parent told the Daily Mail, "You can imagine that if this took place at an inner-city primary [school[ the head teacher could well have been shot dead by armed police."

Close defended his unconventional teaching, saying, "It is all part of our writing curriculum and teaches them to describe what they have seen.

"The kids wrote some fantastic stuff on the back of it and what they had witnessed. I have had no complaints from parents and the children are aware that it was a hoax."

Read more |  DailyTelegraph, 26.02.12

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