'School wars' vs reality

Red vs Blue meme hits Medway, but police say no incidents reported

On Thursday, the Thomas Aveling School in Rochester used its social media accounts for something schools normally try to avoid. It issued a public warning about something that had started on online.

The school said it had been informed of a trend circulating online encouraging pupils to gather on Chatham High Street “to fight other schools,” and urged parents to make sure their child was safe and not involved.

That is how this sort of story now starts. Not with a fight or an arrest, but with a screenshot.

The posts themselves follow a simple formula. What began as a London meme has spread nationwide over the past week, with the same graphic style popping up in different towns as quickly as someone can swap in a new set of school names. A graphic divides local schools into two 'teams,' usually labelled red and blue, and encourages pupils to treat it like a rivalry. Sometimes it claims there will be a fight at a named place and time. Other versions are vaguer, implying a more general 'war' between schools, with pupils expected to identify which side they are on. The images are designed to look like announcements, even though they are usually anonymous and circulate as screenshots.

Once a message like that is out in the wild, a familiar pattern plays out in group chats across Medway. Someone shares it “just to make people aware.” Other people share it again because nobody wants to be the person who ignored a warning about their kid’s safety. Within a few hours, a rumour that may have started on the fringes of teenagers’ feeds has been promoted into adult WhatsApp networks and local Facebook groups, where it becomes harder to verify and easier to panic about.

A 'Medway Wars' graphic has been shared on at least TikTok and Facebook, and likely other social media networks. It follows the same template that has been circulating nationally in the past week. A dramatic title, a year-group range, two colour-coded sides, and a list of schools. Some versions elsewhere have gone further, adding rules, point systems, or lists of supposed weapons that read more like a bored kid emptying a pencil case than anything resembling organised crime. The point is not subtle. It is designed to look local enough to worry people and simple enough to be copied, tweaked, and reposted anywhere.

Kent Police say they were aware of posts encouraging violence and were in contact with schools across Medway.

But they also say that nothing has actually happened.

Inspector Allen Searle told Local Authority: “We were made aware of social media posts encouraging violence amongst school pupils. Officers were in contact with schools across Medway to offer reassurance and guidance. No incidents have been reported. Anyone considering joining any gatherings should think again as officers will respond robustly to any disorder.”

That line matters because this is not just a Medway story. Similar 'red vs blue' posts have been doing the rounds across the country, prompting schools to warn parents, police forces to offer reassurance, and platforms to remove some content for breaching rules on threats and incitement. The meme works because it offers instant tribalism. Everyone gets assigned a side, whether they asked for it or not. It is the same logic as football rivalries, just with more blazers and bus passes.

It also collides with something far more serious. Warnings about school violence land in a country where parents have spent years being told to be alert to knife crime, county lines, and the way social media can drag local disputes into public spaces. That backdrop is why schools feel compelled to act even when what they are looking at seems ridiculous, and why police forces end up devoting time to reassurance patrols and calls with headteachers. It is not that anyone necessarily believes a poster with a red bandana background is a credible intelligence report. It is that nobody wants to be the person who shrugged it off if something does happen.

What is striking, though, is that, despite all the warnings and the energy spent managing the fear, there still appears to be remarkably little evidence of the mass fights the graphics claim to be organising. Like in Medway, in other parts of the country, there have been plenty of statements and letters, but far fewer confirmed outcomes. The anxiety travels considerably further than the reality.

The graphics themselves offer some clues as to why. They look convincing at a glance, but the details often fall apart the moment you check them. One 'Rainham Wars' image that has circulated locally lists mostly schools around Rainham in Essex, but also includes Rainham Mark Grammar School. That is not a minor mix-up. It is two different Rainhams, in two different parts of the country, shoved into the same poster because the creator appears to have searched for school names rather than drawing on any real local knowledge.

The Medway version has its own tells. The 'Medway Wars' graphic shared on Facebook includes multiple misspellings of local schools, including 'Robbert Nappier' and 'Hundred Off Hoo.' It is hard to square that with anything serious. If you were genuinely trying to organise a fight involving real pupils, in real places, you would probably start by getting the names right.

And yet, nonsense can still have real effects. A rumour does not have to be true to cause disruption. A screenshot shared in the wrong place at the wrong time can change behaviour. Parents change pick-up plans, kids get told to go straight home, and schools feel the need to reiterate behaviour policies. The police are dragged into providing reassurance because the mere fact that a rumour is circulating becomes a safeguarding issue, regardless of whether the rumour is credible.

Alongside the public post from Thomas Aveling, another screenshot has been circulating in local Facebook groups, which was claimed to come from the Howard School in Rainham. The message refers to a previous email about “organised fighting between schools,” says “further information has been received” about social media encouraging pupils to congregate at an unknown location in Rainham, and urges parents to ensure children go straight home after school.

We asked Medway Council, Thomas Aveling and the Howard School for comment. None responded before publication. That lack of responses is not unusual. Schools are cautious about discussing safeguarding matters publicly, and councils often leave public order messaging to the police.

But silence also leaves a vacuum, and the vacuum tends to be filled by whatever is being forwarded most aggressively that day. The provenance becomes part of the story. Not 'this came from an official source,' but 'someone said this came from a WhatsApp group,' followed by 'someone else saw it on Facebook,' followed by 'it must be real because everyone is talking about it.'

This is the strange, modern twist. For decades, schools have dealt with rumours about fights, rivalries, and meet-ups. The difference now is that the rumour is packaged as a graphic that looks like an announcement, spreads at the speed of a screenshot, and is then shared by adults who are trying to be responsible. A story that would once have stayed within one school can now become a borough-wide concern in an afternoon, even if the original post was made by someone miles away who could not place Rainham on a map.

For now, the most concrete line remains the one from Kent Police. Posts are circulating, officers are in contact with schools across Medway, but no incidents have been reported. What Medway has had, instead, is the other thing these memes are very good at creating: a believable atmosphere. A low-effort graphic lands in the right group chat, gets forwarded by well-meaning adults, and suddenly, schools are issuing warnings, parents are second-guessing the walk home, and everyone is talking about a fight that never materialises. If the 'red vs blue' format is meant to do anything, it’s this. It turns attention into anxiety, and anxiety into distribution, and it doesn’t need anyone to turn up anywhere for it to work.

Reopening date set for Gillingham level crossing footbridge

The footbridge at Gillingham level crossing has been closed for months, leaving anyone crossing on foot to use the level crossing instead. That is not ideal at the best of times. It is even less ideal on a line where trains can arrive in quick succession.

We have had readers asking what is going on and whether there is any plan to reopen it. Network Rail has now come back with something almost more exciting than an answer: a full schedule of works.

Network Rail says the closure is down to refurbishment work and that it now has dates for the key stages. It says work is due to begin on site on Monday 16 March, starting with preparing the worksite and setting up a compound and welfare area. 

The big moment comes the following weekend. Network Rail says the main deck of the footbridge is scheduled to be removed on Sunday 22 March, with a crane and lorry positioned at the level crossing to lift it out so it can be taken away and refurbished. The letter says the steelwork will be strengthened and painted, while the main staircases will stay in place and be refurbished on site.

That work has consequences for those beyond the people using the bridge. Ingram Road will be fully closed while the crane lifts take place, with diversion routes in place for the initial removal and the return of the bridge deck on Sunday 3 May.

Between those two dates, Network Rail says the main refurbishment phase will run from 23 March to 1 May. The company has reached out to the site's neighbours, warning them that this is the sort of work that can be heard. It says surface preparation will involve handheld 'needle guns,' described as equipment used to remove old paint, rust and corrosion, and says residents may experience noise disturbance during that stage. 

Network Rail says it anticipates the footbridge will reopen to the public on Monday 4 May.

Paul Prentice, speaking for Southeastern Railway, said: “We’re really sorry for the inconvenience caused by the temporary closure of the footbridge at Ingram Road in Gillingham, as we know this has been causing longer waits for pedestrians at the level crossing with the busy Chatham Main Line. The footbridge needs refurbishment work, and the good news is that we can now confirm the date for this work to begin.”

Take us to your parish council

At long last, Fenn Corner roundabout has got something in the middle of it.

This is the A228 roundabout that locals have been moaning about for years. After driving through the peninsula, drivers are greeted by a giant, bare concrete disc on the main route into St Mary Hoo. It has long been treated like an afterthought, and previously compared to a flying saucer. St Mary Hoo Parish Council has even been pushing a petition to get permission to turn it into something a bit less landing pad and a bit more gateway, with planting and some actual effort put into it. 

Now it has a visitor.

Drivers coming up towards the village are being welcomed by a bright green alien, joined by a smaller companion, both planted slap bang in the centre of the roundabout and facing oncoming traffic like they’ve arrived to assess the place and would like to begin with the road network.

If you were trying to make a joke about a roundabout that looks like a flying saucer, you would struggle to do better than adding two little green men to it.

The best detail is that this is not just a one night inflatable abandon and run job. A reader told us it appeared overnight, and that since then someone has been quietly looking after it, re-inflating it when it starts to sag, and standing it back up when the wind knocks it over. The upkeep, like the original arrival, seems to happen overnight, which is either admirable commitment or exactly what you would expect from an alien visitation.

Either way, it has achieved something that public realm improvements often promise and rarely deliver. It has made people smile. The reader who tipped us off said it has cheered up loads of locals, brightened up the area, and that “everyone is talking about it.”

We don’t know who’s behind it. We also, honestly, don’t really want to.

After two decades of staring at what is basically a landing pad, St Mary Hoo has finally got its first visitors.

Footnotes

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