THE headmaster of Manton Primary school in Workshop wanted to expel a violent and disruptive 10-year-old pupil.

Every teacher at the Nottinghamshire school had refused to have the boy in their classes. But the school's governors have twice overruled the headmaster's attempts to expel the boy.

Now the head teacher, Bill Skelley, has closed the school because he said he could not guarantee the safety of children now that the boy has lost funding for his own supply teacher.

It's a cautionary tale for our politically correct times. The "rights" of one badly behaved child are seemingly being given precedence over the well-being of 189 other children.

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, believes that the head's professional judgement should be upheld. He's absolutely right.

It is difficult to understand why the governors at Mr Skelley's school don't back him to the hilt on this matter. The boy has been offered a place at another primary school. He should be made to take it so that the children at Manton School can get back to their lessons without any more disruption.

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