School was a weird time, wasn't it? Not only were you panicking about the choices you were being forced to make for your impending future, there was the friendship group drama, whether you'd remembered your PE kit and what you were going to have for your lunch.
On top of that could you really be mithered worrying about who's the best looking in your year group? Probably not, but that's what students were asked to think about at Hugh Christie School in preparation for the Year 9 Celebration Assembly Awards.
The secondary school in Tonbridge, Kent, had included things on the form such as 'Best Looking Male', 'Best Looking Female', 'Best Couple' and 'Biggest Ego'. The year nine pupils - who will be aged between 13 and 14 - had to write the name of their nominee and the reason for choosing them.
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Lucy Hall who originally tweeted her complaint, said: "My sister, who has a child at the school, is very concerned and so are many other parents. She showed me the nomination form and said many pupils refused to take part.
"Children's mental health issues are well publicised these days. So for a school to do something so inappropriate is unbelievable. Schools have a safeguarding responsibility and should have processes in place to avoid mistakes like this.
"I don't think the teacher responsible should be disciplined, but I do think all teachers should be educated and receive mental health training as standard. It is such an important thing these days."
In a statement provided to LADbible, Jon Barker, Executive Principal at Hugh Christie School, said: "I wish to apologise unreservedly for the awards nomination form circulated to students and seen by parents that has caused offence.
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"As soon as Senior Leaders were made aware, the form was withdrawn and replaced with one that correctly reflects the school's ethos.
"We will apologise to all students who received a form today and explain why we believe it was inappropriate to use. We have also emailed parents to apologise.
"Hugh Christie takes issues concerning the mental health and wellbeing of its students very seriously. Therefore, we have launched an internal investigation as to why and how this happened."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/Lucy Hall
