The head teacher of Salt Grammar School is clearly taking her responsibilities seriously by urging local people to report any problems caused by pupils hanging around outside the school during their breaks or lunch hours.

This is not a problem peculiar to Salt Grammar. It is common to many schools, large and small. If the pupils misbehave, they not only undermine the peace of mind of people living nearby. They also damage the reputation of their school.

It is a sad sign of our times, though, that Mrs Trina Hagerty felt it necessary to add that the school would not reveal to the children or their parents the identities of anyone who reported them. Apparently people calling the school with complaints are reluctant to leave their names for fear of reprisals being taken against them.

Surely that would not have been the case in times past. If children were reported by a member of public for misbehaving, they would be dealt with by the school with the almost certain support of the parents. And any child who tried to get his or her own back on the person who reported them would soon find themselves in trouble again at home. Now, it seems, too many parents are prepared to back their children against authority, however badly they behave.

Head teachers are right to expect the support of the public in helping them to put and end to any nuisance their pupils might be causing to the local community. But in this difficult world it seems that members of the public, in return, need the protection of guaranteed anonymity.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.