A disappointed head teacher has spoken about the lessons learned after his school was forced to cut short a trip to Spain because of the behaviour of "a minority" of pupils.

Chris Rudge, principal of King's Wood School in Harold Hill, said he was sad the school's concert tour of the Catalan region was cut short but he fully backed the teachers who had made the decision.

He said: "This is our fifth trip and each and every one so far has been a big success so this is very disappointing. I'm very sorry for our music teacher Steve Cox because he gives his life to the school in terms of music and I'm very sorry for the pupils who have suffered because of the behaviour of a very small minority."

An angry parent phoned the Brentwood Gazette to report that her child's school trip had been cut short and she had not been given value for money but Mr Rudge said he and many other pupils and parents agreed the teachers had no choice but to end the trip early.

"In the main the response has been quite supportive," he said. "There are some issues about what star rating the hotel was and we are looking at the possibility there may have been some misrepresentation there.

"There seems to have been some discrepancies between the quality of rooms the pupils had and some of them were unhappy with the food but I don't think it was the quality just the selection because the teachers all said the food was good."

Mr Rudge said he was in the process of writing to the tour company which arranged the accommodation to clarify what star rating the hotel was and see if the school could claim some compensation but he believes one of the problems on the trip was the expectations of some of the pupils.

Published Wednesday July 28, 2004

Brought to you by the Brentwood Gazette