Topical Teaching

Ray Poolman, 49, said that he was shocked when his daughter, Danielle, came home in tears after the “harrowing” experience of seeing ducks being shot.

He has accused the village primary school in Ramsey St Mary’s, Cambridgeshire, of leaving parents in the dark about the excursion to watch an “evening flight” at a local wetlands area popular with wildfowl.

The school has defended the trip, part of a series of initiatives to teach the children about fenland traditions, and suggested that Mr Poolman may have misunderstood the meaning of the word “wildfowling”.

Parents of year six pupils from Ashbeach School in the village received a letter earlier this month inviting their children to come on a visit to Welney Marshes in Norfolk organised by the Ely and District Wildfowlers Association.

It said that children would be “finding out about different species of wildfowl” in the marshes and “conservation of the landscape”.

It made no direct reference to shooting or guns but went on to refer to seeing dogs and “equipment used for the sport” and reassured parents that the children would be safely out of the way during the “wildfowling demonstration”.

Shirley Stapleton, the head teacher, said that the school had never intended to upset children or mislead parents but that there appeared to have been a misunderstanding.

It’s very good of the school to reassure parents that their child wont be shot at during their excursion.  Because let’s face it, we wouldn’t want any hiccup preventing these children from viewing the spectacle that is the senseless killing of birds.

Seriously, who could ever defend such a crazy initiative?