By Paul Bentley
Last updated at 8:44 AM on 22nd December 2010
They attend the most prestigious private schools in the country, with their parents paying up to £30,000 a year to give them the finest education.
But after going online in their hordes to spread malicious rumours about fellow pupils’ looks, sex lives and drug habits, it seems pupils at Eton, St Paul’s, Harrow and others are in urgent need of some lessons in manners – not to mention grammar and spelling.
A new website that encourages schoolchildren to write anonymous gossip about their peers, which is then rated as ‘true’ or ‘false’ by other users of the site, has exploded in popularity among Britain’s pupils in the past month.
A screengrab from LittleGossip.com where students can write about their schoolmates
Perhaps surprisingly, it is pupils from the supposedly more illustrious institutions that appear to be the most enthusiastic users of the website.
Many of the comments on LittleGossip.com are obscene, while others are homophobic or threatening.
In one post, a student at Eton made the following barely literate contribution about a peer: ‘mate your a ******* wannabe, u spend all of dads cash on your drug addiction.’
Another pupil at Emanuel School in Battersea, South London, wrote of a girl at the school: ‘****** is working her way through the boys, but unfortunately hasn’t made any girl friends along the way, what will she do when she runs out of boys? And who is her next target?’
James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich is one of the independent schools that has a lively message board on the site
Comments made on the site are so often obscene that 10 per cent of posts submitted to the site are reported by users for deletion. Parents and headteachers are furious their pupils are so freely spreading hurtful rumours about each other.
Charlotte Macleod, the mother of four children at The Harrodian School, in Barnes, South West London, said: ‘What chills me is the viciousness of these unmoderated and anonymous posts. My 15-year-old daughter’s friends are being mocked, sneered at and goaded. True or false, these personal and sexual taunts are universally available online.’
Teachers at James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich, South East London, were alerted to the site by a parent last Thursday. They have since banned students from using it.
The school’s headteacher Marion Gibbs said: ‘I’m just so angry that this vehicle for cyber-bullying exists. I can’t imagine what kind of person wants to set up a site like this. It must be some kind of sick person.’
At Tormead School for girls in Guildford, Surrey, the site has become such a problem among the girls in Year 7 that the headteacher, Christina Foord, is threatening recriminations to any student found to have used it inappropriately.
In a letter sent to parents last night, she wrote: ‘Last Friday, my attention was brought to a social website www.littlegossip.com. This site invites comments about others and also offers the opportunity to agree or disagree with the comments. Whilst some are posted in defence of those being attacked the majority are both deeply unkind and offensive.
HERE'S WHAT THE PUPILS HAVE TO SAY...
Extracts from the LittleGossip.com website by pupils at some of Britain’s most illustrious schools, complete with grammatical and spelling errors. Pupils’ names have been replaced.
CHELTENHAM LADIES’ COLLEGE, Gloucestershire Fees per annum: £21,174
‘Girl A rumoured to have beddedat least 45 guys.....legend/SLUT??’
‘Girl B is a cheap and ugly and looks like a horse.and needs som serious eyebrow work.ladies be warned, this girl is a slut.’
Hurtful: Internet makes gossiping easier
ETON, Windsor, £29,862
To Boy A: ‘Mate you’re a ******* wannabe, u spend all of dads cash on your drug addiction, u wear all your flat caps and bandanas, talk all badman, when u go to eton; its actually amusing. U need a serious reality check. Most people in eton don’t even like you. And the few tht do just use u... You’re a mug.
EMANUEL SCHOOL, Battersea, £14,139
‘Boy C wears make up everyday to school (you will be able to see this by either looking at his collar or his eyebrows). Smells of **** Looks like a rat is gay Has only one friend ****** Smokes like a chimney gasses all the time and acts like a girl.’
ALTON CONVENT SCHOOL, Hampshire, £10,290
‘Rumour has it Girl E is an illegal immigrant who dosent even own a passport ... GET OUT OF OUR COUNTRY’
ST PAUL’S GIRLS’ SCHOOL, Hammersmith, £17,526
‘Girl C, Shes so desperate she was “in love” with some retard called ******... hes not even fit.’
THE HARRODIAN SCHOOL, South West London, £16,350
‘Girl D, ****** being a slut.’
EPSOM COLLEGE, Surrey, £19,263
Boy B ‘genuinally looks like a turtle’
‘A significant number of girls are being drawn into using this site… We will act in school in January if we are able to discover any girl who is bullying in this manner.’
The site has also been slammed by the National Union of Teachers, who accuse the site’s creators of creating a ‘vehicle for cyber-bullying’.
LittleGossip.com was created by web developers in Belize, Central America, but pupils from around the world can select which country they live in and which school they attend – so peers can easily see the relevant messages.
The site was launched in the UK in November and its popularity increased as teenagers spread word of it via other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Under pressure from schools, report buttons were added next to posts so that users can hide offensive content.
The site is officially now supposed to be accessed only by adults, although its safeguards can be bypassed very easily.
LittleGossip claims the site was launched ‘to encourage deep, meaningful conversation’.
A spokesman said: ‘A major aim for us is we want to eradicate the hurtful and offensive gossip that is posted by individuals completely and give our users more moderation over content submitted.’
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