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“Please allow me to add some perspective here;
On the day of the Protest if a Student had been genuinely Truant for the day the punishment they would have expected was a letter sent to Parents and maybe a Lunchtime Detention.
But for the Students that were 99% peacefully protesting on the school grounds who missed 2 afternoon lesson periods, the punishment was a letter sent to Parents, banned from the most popular end of year School Trips for 2 days and 2 days detention in the Isolated Punishment building.

In fact they were punished much more harshly than if they had been caught bullying, fighting, abusing staff etc etc

The few who were mis-behaving during the protest were punished much more harshly.

But maybe you still think this is right and fair

A very small number of parents are unhappy and seem determined to continue ruining the reputation of a school full of very talented staff and students. It seems to me that these people need to get a life and do something positive for the community and themselves. My children have finished at Kevicc and had an excellent time there. Enough of this nonsense, lets move forward. Buy the uniform for your children and send them to school to learn. It seems like you have forgotten that schools are about learning, not uniforms, clothing and all the other rubbish I have been reading about in your facebook page! You should be ashamed of your destructive and disruptive attitude and behaviour. You chose Kevicc because you thought it was the right college for your children with the same staff and management that you are now questionning as a result of the uniform issue. If you have changed your mind about the school, fine, take your children somewhere else but do not carry on with this campaign that will impact on students learning and their results next year unless you stop soon!Faye Cooper, if you do really believe your children feel fear and are intimidated at kevicc you should really take them somewhere else...

Two-thirds of respondents were in favour? In fact, among the student years at KEVICC who will actually have to wear it, 51% voted against. And that was before they saw the uniform. The school could only argue the majority of students wanted it by including the two older years who wouldn't have to wear it anyway, and who rather naughtily voted for uniform for the younger kids!

In terms of those who voted from feeder schools, should someone just putting their 5 year old into primary school really have the same say over whether KEVICC has uniform as someone who is a parent there now? The consultation process didn't really think through who should be eligible to vote and would shouldn't. Also, to begin with it was called a vote, then a consultation, it was all very unclear.

And are we really to believe that the creative, colourful young people of Totnes were consulted on what they wanted the uniform to be and came up with black polyester trousers white shirts and a black jumper?!

The reality is that the management decided in advance they wanted a uniform and the consultation was a done deal from the outset. And can you really have a vote when the students are only given one side of the story and there is no debate? This was foisted on the kids, and they are, quite understandably, indignant and letting the school know so in a very articulate and thoughtful way. As you say, the school has handled it appallingly since, and that is not good enough, lying to parents, draconian punishments for students, refusing to speak to parents, intimidation of students. The only thing to do now is to pause, do it properly and start again. As a co-operative school, it is now committed to values of openness, democracy and honesty, let's see the college rerunning this process based on those principles. It would be a huge learning opportunity for the kids, and would engage everyone on all sides of the debate. Carrying on with this process as it is will just cause more and deeper upset and division that will linger for years.

Surely if parents were given the chance to vote, that is a fair consultation? I read that 2/3ds of respondents were in favour, isn't that democracy in action? If the only thing that was missing was a debate then that is not really a good argument to say the consultation was flawed. I agree that the school seems to have handled the whole situation badly since then, but perhaps they under-estimated the vehemence of the reaction they would get from the anti-uniform group.
Yes of course one must stand up for one's rights, which is why I suggested the kids should have protested in their own time. However, this is a uniform we are talking about here, not the abolition of slavery. If KDB focussed their excellent organising and thorough campaigning skills on some positive action to perhaps raise money for Kevicc, instead of wasting the managements' time, they might be able to achieve what they say they want, a better school.

Dear Another Totnes resident,

The consultation may have worked for you, but it certainly didn't work for a great many people. Not because they didn't get the result they wanted, but because the consultation on something that many people care deeply about was done in just 14 days, it was deeply flawed, there was no debate within the school during that time, the management refused to engage with parents during that time, and it looked to many very much like a formality designed to rubber stamp a decision that had already been taken. Most people are campaigning not because they don't like the decision itself, rather because the process by which it was reached was unjust, unfair and ran completely counter to the school's newly stated co-operative principles of openness, honesty, democracy and so on.

In terms of the protest, cut the kids some slack here. They had been allowed no debate of the issues, had been humiliated and punished for wearing tshirts and badges expressing their dislike of the decision, really what else could they do to get their views across? The demonstration caused some disruption, but sometimes if you disagree with something you have to cause some disruption. Were I a student at KEVICC I would have done exactly the same to send a message to the management.

You write that "the school has stated that uniform is coming back, the decision is made, end of". Had everyone been so accepting throughout history and not willing to take a stand against injustices and abuses of power we would still have apartheid, women without the vote, etc. etc. The whole thing needs a pause and a rethink.

If this self appointed group really think Kevicc Deserves Better, then why don't they stop whining and let Kate Mason get on with the job of running and trying to improve the school instead of forcing her to spend her time dealing with their endless complaints? Yes the school has come down hard on the protestors, but everyone seems to have forgotten the children (yes, children) were playing truant under the noses of the teachers, even if they were attempting to protest peacefully. Last time I checked truancy was illegal. Why didn't they protest in their own time? Then the school would not have been forced into a position of having to firmly discipline the kids for acting illegaly. The school has stated that uniform is coming back, the decision is made, end of. There was a consultation process, as a parent at a feeder school I was consulted and I put my vote to good use. Rather than accusing the school of 'not listening' perhaps the problem is that KDB is not listening either.

I think this article is somewhat misleading. Parents have been asking for mediation since March and the school have refused. Then, as the process of introducing uniform enters full-blown crisis mode, the school offer mediation, but mediation within which the introduction of uniform was not up for discussion. Not good grounds for mediation surely? KDB then, after an open and democratic process (something KEVICC have failed to embody throughout) stated that they wanted punishments for those involved in the protests at the school suspended, not withdrawn, during the period of mediation. Mrs Mason refused. This whole thing is a car crash, and was entirely avoidable from the outset if a fair and transparent consultation had taken place. It hasn't, and it is hard to see where this goes now. I would call on the governors and Senior Management Team, please, pause this introduction, run a proper consultation in September, and use the opportunity, and the newly launched Co-operative Trust, to rebuild the school's community, bring everyone together, rather than continuing this appalling and deeply divisise mess.

Thank you for including me but I would just like to make one thing clear, the conditions I speak of are both those of the school and KeviccsDeservesBetter, the school are happy to enter mediation subject to some areas that are not negotiable, KeviccsDeservesBetter are happy to enter talks subject to their conditions. So just for the record everyone thinks they are more important than the children... sad really.