Telling a child that the wreckers have struck

He was away for the weekend when, late on the Saturday night, he was told that his school had been the target of extensive vandalism and an apparent arson attack.

"I got back at about 2am," he said. "I didn't sleep very much. I then came in to see what had happened."

After a speaking to detectives, fire investigators and journalists, his next job was to work out how to explain the events to the children.

The school has 240 pupils, as well as 50 in the nursery and reception classes, whose equipment was worst-hit.

"I don't understand this mindless vandalism," he says. "I don't know how we can make the children understand when it's very difficult to understand yourself."

Mr Vaughan decided that the best thing to do was not sweep the events under the carpet. He held special assemblies, changed the lesson plan and got his older pupils to act as journalists, reporting on what their school friends and teachers felt about the vandalism.

"Children do tend to take it in their stride," says Mr Vaughan. "We held an assembly on the Monday morning, the first day the children came back. They did have questions that needed answering and we did need to put their minds at rest.

"We had to reassure them that these people would not be coming back and they certainly wouldn't be coming into school while they were there, because a few of them were worried about that."

Part of the healing process for the children was writing about what had happened, and their feelings about it, and taking part in positive activities.

"Groups of older children have been baking cakes to raise money and speaking to the younger children," he says. "A lot of them, of course, want answers. They want to know how people could do things like this, but, of course, we don't understand it ourselves.

"The reception class completely changed its syllabus to talk about the subject of actions and consequences."

Mr Vaughan says that the destruction did present the school with an opportunity.

"The children realise how much they value their school and the older children feel very protective of the younger ones," he adds. "We will all come out of this stronger."

But providing emotional support to children, and helping them to understand the world around them does not just happen after large scale, one-off events such as the vandalism at St Clement's.

One secondary school in Worcestershire has been at the forefront nationally in providing counselling and an opportunity to talk through problems over the last two decades. In its last Ofsted report, Hanley Castle High, near Upton-upon-Severn, was praised for its "pioneering" work. The counselling structure was put in place by deputy headteacher Ann Hume, who says the need to look after the emotional well-being of pupils is every bit as important as their education.

"We were one of the first schools to bring in what we called Time4u and which has now been adopted by many schools in the country," she said.

The broad range of problems, from issues with bullying to loneliness, dealing with unexpected events and sexual dilemmas, brought about the need for confidential counselling.

The school employs an external counsellor who comes in once a week. Society may have changed but problems and their causes remain broadly the same.

When disastrous things happen pupils need support to cope.

HOW THE CHILDREN REACTED

THIS is how two of the pupils at St Clement's reported the vandalism.

l Faye Allen, aged 10:

"The incident caused damage to the reception play toys and bikes, also damaging nearby classrooms. The shed that had brought them a fun time was put into flames.

"The teacher who teaches reception, Mrs Castle, explained to us how the children reacted.

"The children were devastated because they have lost all their outside toys.

"Some of the children from years three and four told us what they thought about this incident. They said they were very upset.

"Mr Connell, the teacher of the classroom that was most damaged, told us how he felt about this: 'It's really sad and now the reception don't have anything to play with. I hope one day the people responsible come and apologise'."

l Toby Churchus, aged 10:

"Damage to St Clement's school was inflicted by people causing damage to reception class tricycles, scooters and other materials which were melted and other classrooms were affected.

"This incident was tragic and fearful flames were made by the fire. Teacher of reception, Mrs Castle, said, 'The children were really sad that they can't play outside for a while'. Children from years three and four explained that they were very upset and annoyed and it was mindless to try to destroy part of our school.

"Keyholder Mrs Bishop witnessed the fire brigade tackling the fire and keeping most of the school safe.

"The middle part of school and the playgroup playground were also damaged along with the roof, windows and doors."

BLACKBOARD

Amanda is seen as saviour of science

TELEVISION scientists could hold the key to reversing the dramatic fall in applications for some areas of study at universities.

The chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Sir Howard Newby, said applications for degree courses in chemistry, physics, mathematics and engineering had fallen by as much as 30 per cent, and 10 universities have closed chemistry departments because of a lack of demand. It was only the appeal of television scientists such as forensic pathologist Sam Ryan, played by Amanda Burton in the BBC1 drama Silent Witness, which could persuade teenagers to sign up to science.

"There has been a big drive towards forensic chemistry, thanks to Amanda Burton," he told the Commons education committee. "I'm not quite sure who is going to employ all those forensic scientists."

Sir Howard told the committee that the closure of individual university departments was not necessarily a cause for concern and it would be wrong to throw money at higher education institutions to keep open courses for which there was no demand.

But he said the overall fall in science and engineering applications was "a huge worry and a major challenge" for the UK.

Punishment power

MINISTERS must introduce new laws giving teachers the right to punish unruly pupils and restrain them through reasonable force, a Government taskforce has recommended.

The taskforce also called for a new national charter setting out the rights and responsibilities for good behaviour of all pupils, parents and teachers.

The report said headteachers may need powers to search pupils for drugs and stolen goods.

It added: "The Government should introduce a single, new piece of legislation to make clear the overall right to discipline pupils."

The taskforce, made up of 13 headteachers and other senior staff, argued that teachers' existing right to act in loco parentis was too vulnerable to legal challenge.

The panel also called for schools to be given the right to apply to magistrates for legal orders against parents unwilling to work with them. "Some parents and carers need to be challenged to take their responsibilities seriously," the taskforce said.

SOME schools are "exploiting" so-called easier vocational courses to boost their places in league tables, according to England's exam watchdog.

Ken Boston, the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, rejected the idea that GNVQ vocational courses were easier than GCSEs.

He said it was clear that some schools were playing the system and entering pupils for these "imperfect" qualifications in a bid to get better results.

And he ridiculed the idea that one GNVQ in a subject such as manufacturing could be equivalent to four GCSEs in academic subjects.

Making such an equivalence was like comparing sugar with "salt, pepper, mustard and chives", he said.