Urgent Help Please - Vote of No Confidence

[rachy27]

Hi all - we have a major issue at my daughter's primary school. Basically her class teacher with 32 years experience has been pretty much forced into early retirement by the new dogmatic Headteacher. The class teacher is amazing, The children respect her, all children have progressed massively under her. there was an extremely heated meeting at the school last night where the Head and 2 of the Govenors simply would not listen to our concerns, refused to answer questions and feelings were running high.
since this new Head arrived, the school has had an appalling OFSTED report and was days away from being put under Special Measures.
There are at least 50 parents (approx 300 children on roll) who are against what has happened.
My knowledge of the running of schools and how Heads are appointed etc is very limited. Somebody mentioned something about a "Vote of No Confidence" which means the Head will have to be removed or stand down - does anybody have any further information regarding this???

Please could anybosy help or point me in the right direction as the children are devastated about losing what they deem as their best teacher ever and parents are so frustrated that their voices are simply not being heard.

Many thanks in advance

[seeker]

How long has the Head been there?

How do you know that the teacher hasn't put in for early retirement voluntarily?

[rachy27]

Head has been there approx 18 months. the teacher has defintiely not put in for the retirement voluntarily as she has told us all "off the record" that this was the only agreement she could come to. As the compromise agreement has not yet been signed, it's still quite confidential.

[GreatGooglyMoogly]

I don't know anything about this myself but there is an interesting discussionhere. HTH.

[rachy27]

Thanks Googly, this is a very interesting piece...

[Juxal]

You're not in Devon are you? Sounds like dd's last school - she started at a new one this week as we'd given up and voted with our feet.

[Fluffybubble]

Could you speak to the LEA? I guess that you could ask for information on a hypothetical basis, give no names etc? If a vote of no confidence is possible then maybe they could confirm this?

[seeker]

Tell me about the OFSTED. Was the last one good or was this Head brought in to improve things? How long after the new Head arrived did the OFSTED happen? And what did the OFSTED say about the leadership of the school?

Sorry for all the questions. I am a parent governor so I might be able to help a bit, or at least look things up for you - but I need a few more facts

[wannaBe]

Also why is this teacher being "forced" into early retirement? A head can't just sack someone - there are very strict disciplinary procedures which tbh are mostly down to the governing body/hr. There must be a reason why this teacher is leaving.

[rachy27]

Sorry Juxal this is Leicestershire - although I would love to live in Devon! I am seriously considering voting with my feet also and moving her from the school.

Seeker - the last OFSTED they were given a notice to improve and were close to being put into special measures. the previous OFTED was very good under the previous head. After the Notice to Improve was given, there was a re-inspection in February where the literally just scraped through. anything to do with the children is wasn't a concern but the criteria to do with the teaching and leadership were all deemed unsatisfactory in the first inspection.

WannaBe - the teacher hasd told most parents that she doesn't want to leave and that she has been coersed in early retirement - her union has been involved with the negotiations.

[seeker]

It's very unusual to go from Good (there isn't a Very Good category) to Special Measures in one inspection cycle - has anything else happened apart from the change of Head? What happened to the previous Head?

[rachy27]

Basically there were 2 schools on the same premises an Infant School and the Junior School. The LEA in its infinite wisdom decided to amalgamate the 2 schools (I guess to save costs) as both schools had a head and deputy and were run on separate budgets. The previous Head of the Junior School is also the husband of the teacher being "forced out" (which I am sure has something to do with the decision). Under his leadership (approx 10 yrs) the OFSTED reports were good. The first report under the new Head was the bad one. When the new Head was appointed 2 govenors resigned over her appointment as they felt she was not suitable for the post.
Also there is "anecdotal evidence" that the Head is very close to someone in the LEA who pushed for her appointment at the school.

I guess I am looking for how I complain about the govenors?

[hellywobs]

You can certainly invoke the schools' complaint procedure - then you could involve the LEA.

[wannaBe]

the LEA have no say in what head is appointed. Appointment of a head is purely down to the governors (assuming this is a state school).

It is possible that the LEA could have an agenda as to who they would like to see in the role, but the governors do not need to take that into account at all. If the school did not have a strong governing body, then it is possible they may have taken the LEA advice on board and appointed on that basis, however this doesn't fit with what you've said about two governors resigning over the appointment.

[throckenholt]

I guess firstly you have to send in a formal complain to the governors. It is not clear if you have just spoken to two governors or whether they were acting as individuals or as representatives of the governing body.

I think if there is really such strong feeling it would be worth asking the governors to address the issue - and maybe have a public meeting. It sounds like there are other issues rather than just this teacher.

[throckenholt]

as far as appointing a head - the LEA have an input with advisors, and overseeing the porcess, and the decision is down to the governors - usually a subset who act as the interview panel and then recommend their decision to the rest of the governors. It has to be agreed by the governing body as a whole (but that may be as a vote rather than unanimous).

Is there any vacancy on the governors ? would you consider joining ? It may be a good way to express your concerns constructively. The role of a governor is supposed to be a critical friend.

[madwomanintheattic]

why are you complaining about the governors? op said '2 of the governors' would not listen - what about the rest of the governing body?

it sounds as though there has been a lot going on which you are not party to - and probably won't be tbh. it is obviously something that has divided the governing body as 2 of them left over the appointment process... although this seems to be a while ago now.

is it possible that the teacher who is taking early retirement has had some ddifficulties adjusting to the new head which have been made worse because her husband was the old head? not wanting to be disloyal to him etc? was his leaving amicable?

very odd that the inspection changed so much from one to another, but possibly the ofsted inspectors interviewed the teacher who is leaving, who painted a rather more 'warts and all' scenario of the new head (in loyalty to her husband?) than was strictly necessary? i can see that would get the back of the head and gov body up?

how do the rest of the teaching staff feel? is it just the teacher whose husband used to be the head that has had more than usual problems adjusting?

if it was just the leadership and management that was the problem, rather than teaching and learning in itself? it would be usual to drop a few scores on a change of manangement tbh, however good the new incumbent was...

not suggesting any of this is at all true btw, or wanting to malign your child's teacher, just have had a lot of experience of situations 'behind the scenes' not being exactly as they are portrayed to parents/ community, often for very good reason (ie so as not to tarnish the reputation of a hitherto respected teacher who has found herself unable to work with new management?)

why not volunteer as a parent governor?

[rachy27]

Throkenholt - you are right there are other issues at the school - mainly to do with the headteacher. There have been at least 6 teachers resign since her appointment.

I will try with the Govenors agin but after their ineffectiveness last night, I am sure it will need to be taken further

[cory]

A school can go downhill very rapidly if the leadership is poor enough

our council decided to take our very good local secondary and amalgamate it with another secondary, and then hand the management over to a religious group; they seemed to think if they made it into an academy everybody would be really happy with the changes

the result has been a complete shambles, it took literally weeks for the whole place to descend into chaos; 19 members of staff resigned within the space a week

this was last September: I spoke today to a parent of the school and she was in tears over how her daughter has totally lost motivation, she never gets any work appropriate to her level, school does nothing about bullying, she has no homework, she hates going to school in the mornings

I remember this girl from a year ago as one of the bubbliest and brightest of Year 6, in top set for everything and excited and interested in everything. She was doing Year 8 work in maths and thriving on it. If you could predict it of any child you would predict that she at least would come out with a fine set of A*s at the end of her education.

I felt very guilty as this was our catchment school and dd only escaped it because new management weren't together enough to explain how they would deal with her disability (just kept repeating that their Christian ethos meant they were very inclusive and they would be fine)- so I had a good case to bring before the appeals panel. And dd is still happy and hardworking and enjoying school.

[wannaBe]

throckenholt yes you are right in that the LEA oversee the process and do advise. The decision over who to appoint is down to the panel involved in the recruitment process, this could be the whole governing body or a section of the governing body, and the decision is ratified by the whole governing body, well the corum at least, although once the decision has been made by the panel the whole governing body just agree it - they don't get to vote on it or anything.

[rachy27]

Thanks Madwoman (although I feel rude addressing you as such!)- I am sure that there are some issues regarding the teacher feeling aggrieved over a nerw appointment. However that does not detract from the fact she is an excellent teacher and ALL pupils in the class have progressed under her care.

I would love to join the Govenors - time for me is limited as I work 2 hous drive away from where I live and travel abroad extensively with work. Should a position become vacant I would certainly give it due consideration.

In terms fo the OFSTED, grade 4s were received in all areas - teaching, management and leadership etc.

There were only 2 govenors at the meeting last night and they led us to believe that the decision was supported by all of the govenors.

[madwomanintheattic]

what was the actual meeting about last night? i'm a bit confused - the teacher leaving, or the ofsted?

(we're recruiting a new head now lol)

[throckenholt]

good luck with recruiting your head - we have just been through it (successfully thankfully this time, second time round).

It must be a very tricky time joining two schools, especially if that involves a new management too. Is the retirement a result of restructuring - it may be for budget reasons they need to have less teachers. Or is she going to be replaced ? Again - it may be budgetry - maybe they think they can do it with cheaper (less experienced) staff. And maybe you don't know the whole story about whether she wanted to retire or not. If she didn't then she should be considering her own position regarding appeals etc.

[katiestar]

Surely there is allsorts of employment legislation which would protect the teacher ?
Are you sure she just doesn't like the new head and just wants to retire early than put up with him ?

[cory]

the OP did say that the teacher's union has been involved: if this is fact and not just a distortion by the teacher, then that certainly would seem to suggest that her retirement is not voluntary

[seeker]

When was the last OFSTED? I would be VERY surprised if a school could go from 2s in all areas to 4s in all areas in 18 months - there must surely have been warning signs before? Is it possible that the school was declining and the new Head was brought in to halt the decline and failed?