Christopher Whiteheads explains why mirrors removed

Angry parents have expressed concerns over the messaging on some of the posters which replaced mirrors in the toilets at Christopher Whitehead Language College in St John’s.

Headteacher Neil Morris explained the changes were made because of bad behaviour in the toilets and the posters were used as part of an English lesson.

A photo widely shared online shows some mirrors had been replaced by posters featuring ‘motivational’ quotes such as ‘Beauty is nothing without brains’.

And students said an external door had been removed from one toilet block.

In a letter sent to students, headteacher Neil Morris said recently upgraded toilets had quickly become “sub-standard through deliberate misuse”.

READ MORE: Mirrors in school toilets replaced by 'motivational' posters

“My final frustration has been the misuse of the mirrors that has seen personalised, offensive graffiti, has seen ‘mean’ girls/boys sit on the basins to socialise, block the area and gross, worrying behaviour with human faeces and used tampons put on the mirrors on more than one occasion.”

The letter said more than £2,000 worth of damage had been caused in school toilets during the previous half-term.

“We can’t continue with the damage that has occurred,” Mr Morris told the Worcester News.

He said since the mirrors were removed there has been three days of “positive use” of the toilets and it was down to the behaviour of students whether the changes would be made permanent.

The posters that were put up in one toilet block (Image: NQ)

“The school is a large site with seven buildings and nine student toilet areas,” said Mr Morris.

“We have no external door on eight of the toilet areas, allowing staff to see the sinks, not the cubicles. We have removed the ninth external door of the boys’ toilet area.”

Mr Morris said the posters had been up in one block of toilets for only two hours and the intention had been to provoke debate among students for an English project.

“The English department has used this as an opportunity to provide some argumentative discursive letter writing,” he said. “They put some provocative posters up in the one toilet area in their corridor before the lesson.

“This has produced some ‘frenzied’, powerful writing and debate. With hindsight, the posters should have been placed in their classroom area, not in one toilet.

“Positively, yesterday a very productive meeting saw 26 students and two parents discuss our concerns and the way forward and the Student Council is being challenged to come up with an action plan.