West Derby’s Cardinal Heenan school pupil excluded for dealing crisps



Today 12-year-old Joel Bradley’s dad claimed his son was “victimised” – after being himself caught trying to flog sugary and fatty snacks from the back of a van outside Cardinal Heenan High School.

But the school’s unrepentant headteacher Dave Forshaw said the day’s suspension – for trying to sell a marked up bag of Disco crisps on Thursday – was the boy’s second offence.

And he pledged to continue to monitor pupils hoping to cash in on the secondary school’s healthy food policy which bans crisps, chocolate and sugary drinks.

Joel’s dad Joe Bradley, from Norris Green, admitted he was sent away with a flea in his ear by the school after trying to sell “crisps, bars of chocolate and sweets I bought from Iceland” from a van outside the school in September.

He said he wanted to fill a void left by the closure of a shop nearby.

But Mr Bradley claimed he was only there for a few minutes and did not pursue the venture after finding out he needed a licence.

He told the ECHO his son was caught selling crisps last year but claimed “other kids do it” and Joel could pocket “£15 a day” through the enterprise.

On the first occasion he claimed the school kept around £20 in confiscated crisp proceeds.

He said Joel was armed with six bags of Discos which he was offering for 50p a bag when caught selling on Thursday.

Speaking about the offence Mr Bradley said: “It is wrong.

“But I think the school has made a beeline for him because of what I’ve done.”

Confirming Joel’s exclusion a bullish Mr Forshaw said parents were made fully aware of the school’s food and drink rules in official correspondence.

He told the ECHO: “We are a healthy school and proud of it.

“We are committed to the health of our students and it is very rare for parents to complain about us confiscating crisps, chocolate, Lucozade and Coca Cola.

“We have a normal complaints procedure.

“And if parents are not happy then they are perfectly free to take their children to a school that allows pupils to sell these things and allows a father to sell them outside on the pavement.”

He dismissed the claim money was taken from Joel as “nonsense”.

He said pupils caught selling the snacks were sent to an isolated part of the school on the first occasion but suspended for a day if caught a second time.

Mr Forshaw added: “The problems schools face is that boys in particular from 8am to going to sleep like to eat and that allows this market at break times and lunch for students. But on health and litter grounds we just won’t allow it.”

He said pupils were caught around three or four times a week selling snacks and “we have six to seven regular sellers we pin point”.


Visit www.bit.ly/schooldisco for Education Reporter Ben Turner’s take on the story.

“And if parents are not happy then they are perfectly free to take their children to a school that allows pupils to sell these things and allows a father to sell them outside on the pavement.”


Is there a school for delboys nearby?

On a more serious note, I know this seems on the surface to be a minor issue but inderlying it is the father's insistence on backing his kid up which basically undermines the school's policy and the headmaster. What lesson is he trying to teach his son I wonder?

have i red that right ? a school boy has been excluded for dealing chrisps ?

Yup. But the post above summarises my view perfeck.

thatt is bad that isnt it ha .

wow have schools become this pathetic now? if the kids want to eat crisps let them or sell them in the school instead of that rabbit food and processed crap they give them now. back when i was in secondary school we were pretty much left to our own devices. most people wanted to gain access to the internet as the schoold had imposed heavy DRM (Digital Rights Management) on their network. so i spent my final years developing ways to allow everyone to work around it and ways which the technicians could never find and fix. shame i never finished my "armageddon project" because that would have destroyed the network entirely. was i expelled for my various projects and eating crap? nope.

The reason why kids were eating crap when you were at school is most of the reason why we have a national obesity epidemic. It has been said that todays kids will die before their parents because of bad eating habits, habits they learn at school. As for your non-academic endeavours Shadow Omega, were you not expelled because you weren't caught or because your school wasn't interested in your welfare enough to teach you that what you were doing was thoroughly antisocial?

Sorry that was a bit personal.

When I was in primary school, my mate owned a pub, and some guy came in selling a load of watches and his dad bought a load lol. They were supposed to be solar powered, and we were selling them in school haha... the teachers found out and called the parents in, and we got a bollocking but nothing major.

In secondary school, I started selling South Park on audio cassette, and was selling like 20 tapes a day, I could'nt keep up. Eventually, the sales died, and the teachers found out, but instead of bollocking me, they told me it isnt allowed, but praised my entreupreneur nature. I was only about 12 or 13, and didnt have the marketing sense to keep it going back in them days, but I must have made at least £100+ in a few weeks from it haha, all the kids in the school wanted em!!

Fair does Matt but we aren't all from Grange Hill lol. I get hacked off when kids play up and their parents tell em it's ok even when the school says it isn't. People can argue all they like but for me this issue is about understanding what you can and can't do in society. I hate to say this but a lot of parents these days don't give their kids the guidance they need.

Actually, my parents (and grandparents and uncles/aunties) all gave me excellent guidance in life. My family (on my mothers side) have 3 generations of plod in them, so please don't assume the moral or ethical guidance was not there.

I was a child, and my saying has always been, we live and learn. When you are a kid, you will get upto mischief and do silly things, that what being a child is all about, you don't just get told right from wrong, you learn it. If you think this is a strange concept to you, then I think you need to wake-up and smell the coffee. I still learn from mistakes today, at the grand age of 23, and suspect I will keep doing so until the day I die.

By the way, I went to Birkenhead school with all the millionaires and footballers kids, and trust me, some of them were so wrapped in cotton wool it is unbeliveable, and they did not have a clue how to cope in the real world. Not that they would ever have to deal with the real world given the money their families had, but still. And some of the ones who rebelled, did so big time. Yes, some would never have dreamed of even saying anything naughty, nevermind doing something, but to be quite frank, they were the biggest muppets ever and the majority were not like this and got upto mischief and probably did/still do participate in dodgy dealings, but I certainly would not say they had a bad upbringing or teaching of right from wrong, considering Birkenhead School is a private school and present/recommended in the Good School Guide, and regarded as one of the best schools in the UK.

Recommended in the Good School Guide means they can kick ur ass and not leave marks (OK I was taking the pee)

Hey don't knock it I was quite the push pop dealer in my day,

It is irrelevant whether the boy was dealing crisps or crack! The point is that the school had introduced a rule which EVERY child in the school had to abide by. It is not up to the parents to select which rules theirr little scotes can chose to ignore. Rules is rules. None of us like them. Most of us live by them or even bend them a little to get round.
Life is full of rules kid - get over it!!!

im on the schools side. Its a hame though that more of our rights are taken from us but that is the world we are in.

Just to confirm on my edited post, when I mentioned colombia's finest I was refering to the finest coffee beans known to man.

Matt, I am 23 and went to Birkenhead... hmm. Wonder if I know you...

good on the kid. I love crisps!

I sold toast?Took a toaster into school put it in the caretakers room? Had to leave him two rounds of toast a day tho.

Greetings to the Old Birkonians; I was there 1948-53.