to ask what's going on at my child's school

[SchoolemailEdinburgh]

I received this email today.

have just seen it as I was at work and my child gets picked up by a childminder.
I have copied and pasted and withdrawn some names etc
Dear Parents and Carers, I am writing to you in my capacity as Head of Education for Primary school Thank you for your understanding and support this week whilst the leadership team at , Mrs Headteacher Mrs depute headhave been absent. Following the October break, Mrs Headteacher from anotherschool will step into the Headteacher post on a seconded basis from Thursday 23rd October to ensure the continued leadership of the school. Mrs Headteacher from a another school will be supported by a Quality Improvement Officer who will lead the school between Monday 20th – Wednesday 23rd. The Quality Improvement Team will continue to provide support to the school during this period and further updates will be shared in the new term. Best wishes,Any thoughts?

The reference to the quality improvement team would make me think there has been either a terrible Ofsted or council inspection, and the senior management have been removed.

It could be absolutely anything. Maybe they just got fed up with the job and quit suddenly. When I got a similar email, it came out about 36 hours later the staff in question were being arrested on very serious charges.

Just give it a bit of time, the information will circulate.

Terrible inspection, dismissal with immediate effect, or shock mass exodus.

Have Ofsted been in? If they have, then clearly they've uncovered problems that the current head was unable or unwilling to deal with. The deputy either couldn't or didn't want to step up.
If Ofsted haven't been involved, then either the head ( and deputy?) have resigned, or something has happened which means they have been suspended or sacked.
You'll probably hear more ( informally) soon enough. You probably won't get any more info formally, unless there is an Ofsted report.

The board of governors have asked the head and deputy to leave for some reason. There might have been a safeguarding issue or financial mismanagement (schools are really struggling with lots 'in the red') or it could relate to Ofsted or other data. I am sure the Chair of Governors will provide families with more information, though not precise details. Class teachers will be carrying on as normal and the departures are not going to affect the kids.

Maybe they were stealing

Cannot wait for the update on this one!

So we are in Edinburgh so no board of governors or ofsted. Also no inspection recently. This would've came from the council if they have been dismissed. Its quite a shock tbh

My initial thought was Ofsted, so it'll be either the Scottish equivalent, or some major shitstorm (someone's going to jail, been caught doing something very bad, school is getting investigated for x, y, z) so when whatever it is comes out, they'll be able to say "but we're already doing something about it, we sent you the communications". So something really bad is stewing, just hopefully they'll be shielding the kids from it.

@SchoolemailEdinburghIt may be as simple as the head and depute being long term sick, this happened with our school, nothing nefarious just unfortunate timing and ill health.

QIO is the level above HT in Scotland. They are employed by the LA.

Oh and the quality improvement team in our authority are just the level above head teachers not a specific team if you’re in the sh!t) - one quality improvement officer overseas a couple of school clusters so again it doesn’t mean there is an issue just that the council employee the layer above HT will continue to support and oversee the school to reassure parents of some continuity.

Why are you asking us? We can only surmise. Ask someone who may know the answer.

It does just sound like for whatever reason the HT/DHT are going to be off long term/longer than anticipated so they’re seconding an HT from another school to cover the absence - it’s pretty common and not a particular cause for concern. We don’t operate in quite the same way as English schools/LAs thankfully.

It sounds like the HT and DHT have possibly just resigned and this is a cobbled together management team until they get sorted. In Scotland teachers can resign at any time unlike the English system where there are only certain times of year. They have to give notice but the council may have decided they would prefer to put them on gardening leave.

I've worked in 2 schools and know one other locally where the head was gone over night with no immediate explanation and acting heads moved in for the transition.

For 2 of the schools the heads were misappropriating funds and the other was the day before a damning ofsted report was released and the school was academised.

They move the heads round for all sorts of reasons eg could be an issue at a totally different school. There was an issue a couple of years ago at East Craig’s so that head left, the Corstorphine head moved to East Craig’s, the a Gylemuir head moved to Corstorphine and a deputy from Dalmeny moved to Gylemuir.

We received similar after what I'll generously call 'financial mismanagement' by the then principal and deputy. Although we were fobbed off with the very obvious lie that they were both on sick leave for months.

When it happened at my daughter’s primary school years ago the head teacher had been caught on a pile of gym mats with one of the cleaners.

Good point. It could well be HT dominoes which may happen for various reasons.

I know one case when the head had their own child in Y6 so 'snuck a peak' at the SATs papers before the day and got instantly dismissed once found out.

I know another case where the head had a mental health breakdown.

A deputy who had a heart attack so was off (suddenly to the parents) for 6 months. School can't share staff medical reasons.

When I was at school, one of the deputy heads had a brain aneurysm after-school in a staff meeting and died. We all knew by the next day but nowadays, schools have to be a lot more careful with GDPR.

Point being, it's not always nefarious.

Following for the update!

Did you find out more?

I would assume they were dismissed and won’t be back.

I was sold at the free buffet part!
This wouldn't offend me in the slightest. My youngest attracts PP funding as my husband was in the army. Noone else knows that it's not because of FSM entitlement and if they want to judge then they're more than welcome. That would be a them problem.