Ascot Primary principal says graduation dress policy caused hurt after public backlash

Mark Jackson, principal of Ascot Primary School, has spoken publicly to explain a graduation ceremony that sparked outrage after pupils said not to have met the school's standards were refused caps and gowns and told to wear their uniforms instead.

Those described as lower-performing students were made to march behind classmates who had performed better and were placed at the back of the graduating group.

Appearing on CVM's lead story, Jackson said he now accepts that the school's handling of the matter may have been mistaken.

"The students who fall in pathway one and two, when the ministry results come, because that's how we stratify them – the decision to have them being a part of the transitioning exercise. However, some persons believe that we should have included the other students even though they were in uniform. And so we obliged them. I think because I obliged is we ended up with two categories of students in one place… and this is what caused the controversy… that we are discriminating and humiliating students," he said.

Jackson stressed that shaming pupils was never his aim as head of the institution.

"I have watched these students go from grade one at Ascot Primary. We don't only deliver curricular we come up with complimentary programs."

When asked whether, with time to reflect, he believes the school erred, Jackson replied, "Yes. In the sense that, like I said earlier, I think we were a little myopic as administrators, in the sense that we were just looking at the positives to say the incentives, and the grade five looking on it will motivate them to say, 'next year I'll be looking at category part one and two', not looking at the negatives that it could have."

He said the school grouped students using ministry results and wanted those in pathways one and two to take part in the transition exercise, but acknowledged that mixing uniformed pupils with cap-and-gown graduates in one ceremony fuelled claims of discrimination.