The internet has revolutionised our lives. In most ways it has been a force for good. It has made it much easier for us to obtain information and communicate with each other. But very few things are wholly good – or wholly bad – and this week I came across an example of the internet, and one of its manifestations, Facebook, being used in a way which, I believe, will be very detrimental to part of our local community.

At the beginning if the week I visited Lydd Primary School. As far as I was concerned it was another school visit of the kind I make very frequently. They are always enjoyable and I was looking forward to it.

But when I arrived I was met with the news that the head teacher, Mrs Andrea Charman, had decided to resign.

I am convinced that Mrs Charman is an outstanding head teacher. In little over a year she has turned around a school that was previously in difficulties. She has transformed the behaviour of the children of the school and has made an important contribution to the wider life of the community of Lydd.

Throughout her time as head, Mrs Charman has had the support of the vast majority of the parents with children at the school and of the Governing Body.

Why then has she resigned?

Shortly after Mrs Charman took over the headship a school farm was started.

This was a suggestion that came from the School Council, not Mrs Charman, and proper preparations were made before the proposal was put into effect.

Three lambs arrived at the school to take their place in the school farm. Two were ewes which, it was decided, would be used for wool production and breeding. The third, a neutered male, would, it was decided, be sent to market. This decision was taken by the School Council (by a majority of 13 to 1) and not by Mrs Charman.

Everyone understood that the lamb in question was going to be slaughtered. That is what happens on farms and since the object of the exercise was to teach the children how farms were run it should hardly have been surprising.

In September a notice was issued indicating there was to be a raffle of the slaughtered lamb.

At this point a torrent of complaints and abuse began. The BBC got involved and there were articles in national newspapers. Most (not all, but most) of the complaints came from far afield. I received some myself.

Then a campaign of vituperation was started on the internet and, in particular, on Facebook, directed at Mrs Charman personally. It was the relentlessness of this campaign, which included threats of violence, which has proved the final straw for Mrs Charman. She has decided that the campaign is interfering with her ability to run the school. So she has decided to leave.

I have no doubts that she will get another headship. But that school’s gain will be Lydd’s loss. An excellent head teacher will depart because of the pressure exerted through the internet and on Facebook.

It is a sad day for Lydd and has wider implications for the future of our society.