STUDENTS felt cheated when their last day at school was cancelled – because some students didn't meet the academy's "exacting standards of behaviour".
Parents and pupils were outraged after being handed the letter at Oasis Academy Wintringham on Thursday afternoon telling them not to come back the next day.
It means the 15 and 16-year-olds won't get the traditional last day of tearful goodbyes enjoyed by Year 11 students at other schools and many Wintringham cohorts previously.
Prefect Laura Noble, 15, said: "I was looking forward to spending it with friends, signing our shirts and saying thank you to teachers – but now it's all ruined."
Michael Ashworth, 16, a community leader at the school, said: "We've spent five years of our lives here and they won't even give us the chance to say goodbye."
Principal Jane Bowman said the decision was taken because "a number of students have not met our exacting standards of behaviour recently – and have not responded to our encouragement to do so".
However, Georgia Collins, 16, who was on the student council, said it was unfair that the majority of good students are denied the last day because of a small minority.
She added: "We don't deserve this and it's all just because of rumours that a few people would pull schoolboy-style pranks – and I don't think they would have gone through with them anyway."
Parents were also unhappy. Lorraine Menzies, 53, of Maxwell Court, Waltham, said: "We all remember our last day for years to come and it really saddens me that they are being denied that.
"My daughter and many of her friends have worked hard and don't deserve this – what kind of message does it send to the next generation?
"Now, teachers are guarding the gates like soldiers, treating our children as though they were terrorists – it's ridiculous."
Two teachers were outside the gates as the Telegraph took photos – although this is normal for the end of school.
Holleigh Salthouse, 16, moved from Tollbar in Year 10.
She said: "They have been really good to me since I came, especially the pastoral staff, who I really wanted to thank – but I won't get the chance now.
"The school act like they care about us but they just handed us a letter which basically said don't bother coming back – it's a really sad way to end it.
"I keep seeing pictures of Tollbar students looking happy pop up on Facebook and I wish I had stayed."
However, the principal said that students will get the chance to say goodbye to each other when they pick up their results in August and at the school prom.
She added: "The most important consideration at the moment is a complete focus on examinations."
Below is a letter from a prefect about how pupils were "banished"
As of 2:45pm yesterday, I am an ex-Wintringham prefect. I have today received notice of a collective of students led by one Laura Noble contacting your newspaper over the sudden dismissal of year 11 students, and I thought I might write in to add what I can. Firstly, I'd like to say that the school and the way it is run has become increasingly administrative and officious for the last few years, and that, on reflection, this doesn't seem such a surprise, but it was certainly a shock on the day. This is nothing against the actual teaching staff, rather the higher-up administrators. We've been attending the school for five years now. Many of us have had excellent levels of communication with the staff, and dedicated a sizeable amount of our time to the Academy. Now they just shrug us off without so much as a goodbye. We're not allowed back on site except for exams and revision sessions. Our last day, which is a big one, has just been taken away from us. Today should have been the last day. That's what the students and most of the teaching staff were expecting. Instead we've essentially been banished. Many of us were waiting for the last day to bring cameras in for photographs, get our shirts signed, fill out our yearbooks, and generally enjoy what's left of the time we've got. It was supposed to be a day for celebration. Instead it's been one of massive disappointment. I haven't heard a positive word on the matter since yesterday. At the end of the day, after receiving letters from the school at the end of the exam telling us to basically get lost, me and a couple of friends decided to go into the library, because we'd been told a few of our classmates were in there saying their goodbyes. We got to the door to find one of the admins shaking her head at the door. When we finally managed to speak to her, and she found out there were year 11s still on site, she marched into the library and demanded they all get out. No goodbye. No last day. Some wishes of good luck from the more student-friendly staff around, but that was it. It's worth noting that the letter was very carefully phrased. They never explicitly said 'you must not return', but they said we were 'not required' to attend. In spite of this, we were repeatedly told that year 11s mustn't be on site. This is the current principal's last year. She officially leaves in August. She hasn't always been well-liked by the student body, but no-one expected this. You'd think she'd want to leave a warmer legacy, but apparently not.