Walton Academy headteacher blames TikTok for pupils' actions as they protest over unisex toilets, bullying and mental health care

The head of a school where pupils are staging a protest today (Monday) says their actions are a result of a TikTok trend.

A group of Walton Academy pupils – the school says around 50 – have been protesting on the playing field since this morning.

Parents and pupils say unisex toilets, bullying issues and a lack of care around mental health are behind pupils' actions.

However, school principal Jess Leonard said social media is to blame.

In a statement she said: "Towards the end of last week we became aware of a new trend on the social media platform TikTok. Today, some of our students joined this protest on the academy site, along with other young people across the country.

“At Walton, we take the voices of our young people seriously and we need their feedback in order to continue to develop the academy and move it forwards.

"We fully respect the right for our students’ voices to be heard, and indeed the right to protest.

"However, we have reminded our students that a protest should be a last resort after all other channels of communication have been exhausted.

“We expect our students to be in class to benefit from learning and to always uphold our standards and high levels of behaviour.

"We have been in contact with our parental community and asked for their co-operation in ensuring students keep disruption to a minimum and voice their concerns in the correct way."