Sunday 15 May 2022 04:01 PM Boy, 12, permanently excluded from school after he was caught with toy gun in ... trends now

A mother of a 12-year-old boy who was excluded after taking a toy gun into McDonalds before school has slammed her son's school as being 'over the top' and like an 'army camp' with their choice of punishment.

Self-employed cleaner Pauline Pollard, 53, from Birmingham, says her son Mitchell, 12, was the victim of 'unfair treatment' after he was kicked out of Christ Church Secondary Academy in Yardley Wood, Birmingham. 

The 12-year-old took his black and yellow toy gun to a local McDonald's restaurant one morning before school, then passing it to a friend who fired at two other pupils.

Later that day, Mitchell was permanently excluded by Christ Church.

The toy gun was 'no worse than a Nerf gun that you would buy in Smyth's toy shop', said Mitchell's mother, who explained that it only fired small 'pips' as opposed to BB guns which shoot ball bearings.

But the Church of England academy, which first opened last September, maintained their stance during a hearing where the board of governors upheld the exclusion, claiming that Mitchell was 'considered a danger'.

'We found quite early on that the school is quite harsh... While we appreciate that they are going to try and set a benchmark and a precedent for a brand new school, they are a little bit over the top in punishment,' Ms Pollard said.

In the hearing, Ms Pollard said she also provided 'impeccable references' to defend her son and even got in contact with a worker at the McDonald's restaurant to back up that he gave the toy to his friend.

She added that the gun, which was coloured black and gold, was handed over to police to investigate but found no grounds to do so.

The 53-year-old insists that an incident which happened a week earlier left Mitchell's school record tainted in the eyes of his teachers.

His class was having a discussion where they all had to say what three items they would pick to have on a desert island with them.