WHEN a student informed her teacher her father was in trouble at home because he had bought a full-sized Dalek without first checking with her mother, her school came to the rescue.

The ultimate sci-fi villain – a 5ft high replica Dalek – has now been given a permanent home at Stokesley School in North Yorkshire, after a student’s father made the unforgivable error of successfully bidding for it at a convention without consulting his other half.
The unnamed student and her father are both fans of the cult television programme and have met the present Doctor Who incarnation, Peter Capaldi.

But the replica Dalek did not receive a warm reception at home – not least because it would not fit through the front door. The girl’s mother was so upset she threatened to exterminate her husband – so it was offered to Stokesley School headteacher Catherine Brooker.
A spokesman for the school said: “It caused great amusement positioned outside the headteacher’s office, believed by children to be part of a new behaviour management system.

“Teachers were surprisingly keen to be photographed with it.
“Indeed, one member of staff enjoyed being secreted in it during assembly and then surprising students by not only activating the Dalek by moving menacingly towards them but enhanced the impact with very convincing, recorded sound effects.”

The replica was used to inspire a creative writing competition where students were encouraged to submit short stories titled The Day the Daleks Came to Stokesley, with Dr Who themed prizes for the winners.
As a Dr Who expert, the girl whose father had bought the Dalek was one of the competition judges.

The school spokesman said teachers had been surprised by the large number of entries, adding: “Our imaginative authors featured such horrors as Mrs Brooker swinging from the ropes in the gym to rescue students from extermination, Mr Fazakerley fighting off Daleks armed only with his world globe and Mrs Stevenson taking the opportunity to stage a coup and put her name on the head’s office door.”

The winners were; Sacha Barnes-Wood, Andrew Ramsdale, Jenny Petch, Patrick Davies, Eleanor Sigsworth, Freddie Cowey, George Watson, Stella Kennedy and Benjamin Barker