By Community Correspondent Megan Dunsby

The principal of Strode’s College, Frank Botham has recently announced that Strode’s students are no longer allowed to access or use Walnut Tree Gardens in Egham despite the limited amount of space and social areas that Strode’s College has to offer. If a student is found in the park, they will face severe penalties and even exclusion. This decision comes after local residents have complained about the litter and crowding in this area as well as particular students using it on a recreational basis.

Is this a fair decision though? Firstly on legal grounds the College has no right to ban anyone from accessing a public area and secondly the College and Principal have collectively stereotyped Strode’s students as a whole as littering, drug abusers. There are many students who use the park solely for the purpose in which it is intended for socialising and relaxing. This seems like a very extreme and rash decision when there are other ways and means to resolve this problem.

On the other hand though, residents in the local area have been campaigning for the College to intervene due to the litter situation and the noise that comes from the park which they hold the students at fault for. A student from Strode’s who is campaigning to get the ban lifted on a Facebook page said as part of his campaign that ‘a total ban was unfair... if the ban was lifted students would open their eyes to the problem and regulate themselves’. He argued that to resolve the issue over the park teachers could be put on duty so that individual bans could be introduced so that only the minority were punished and this would deter others also. Another point was to invite Strode’s students undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award to complete the service aspect of their award by completing community work in the park.

As valid as these points may be it can again be argued as to why should certain students should have to clear up mess that they did not create and why should teachers have to waste valuable time looking for students who cause hassle? Surely the students should be able to regulate themselves and have a responsibility to look after the local area, they should be mature enough to clear up their litter and make sure that they do not impact upon the local area and its residents.

The campaign from Strode’s students carries on after the ban was introduced two weeks ago, there are mixed views about this controversial decision and the argument continues over what the next step to take should be...