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For such a little lamb, he has caused one huge kerfuffle
Headteacher Andrea Charman sparked outrage when the decision was made last September to kill off six month old Marcus, one of three sheep cared for at Lydd primary school in Romney Marsh, Kent. Pupils bottle-fed the animals and took them into assemblies
The programme caused uproar when the school council, made up of seven to 11-year-olds, voted to send Marcus to be slaughtered. Raffle tickets were to be sold in local shops with cuts of meat offered as the prize
She resigned after telling friends she has been ‘bullied and victimised’ ever since the decision was made for him to be butchered and his meat sold in a raffle
Hundreds of parents and animal lovers, including the comedian Paul O’Grady who offered Marcus a home, voiced opposition to selling off his meat as a raffle prize
An online petition calling for her to be sacked gained 2,500 signatures and a Facebook group called ‘Ban Andrea Charman from Teaching Anywhere’ attracted 650 members
They said it was “heartless” to allow children to personalise the lamb and then learn that it was to be sent to an abattoir for its meat to be auctioned.
She said the decision to slaughter Marcus had the support of the school council, staff, the governing body and most parents at the school, which is situated in a farming community.
It was also said that pupils voted in favour of selling his lamb meat to raise money to buy more animals for the 250-pupil village school
Many parents admitted Mrs Charman had generally been a good headmistress. But they insisted her position had become untenable over her handling of Marcus’s fate
Adele Grant, 41, said her ten-year-old daughter Liberty had been left ‘psychologically traumatised’ and needed counselling after the death
Trudy Dixon, 26, a mother who campaigned to save Marcus, said: “A lot of people are happy that she is going because it created a lot of bad press for the school.”
‘My argument was never with her as a headteacher. It was the way she handled things. What happened was disgusting and barbaric and unfair to the children.’
Tina Goodyer, 50, who has two children and a granddaughter at the school, said yesterday: ‘We wanted everything to be amicable, even though we made complaints.
‘All we got for our trouble was being told we were intimidating other parents and being barred from the school
The school’s chairman of governors, Geoff Marsh, said: ‘This is a sad day for us but we wish her the very best for the future.’
