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Original poster

Head removed from school by "men in suits"

59 replies

ReadingRiot · 28/06/2018 17:20

happened during the school day. Head hasn't been back since, parents have been told he is taking a leave of absence, so deputy in charge. C. 6/7 "men in suits". Some reports include handcuffs but I didn't see any.

So, assuming it relates to something at school, it must be finance or safeguarding?

Head has been in post nearly 2 decades and school has been outstanding for years. The community is reeling. What/when should we expect to be told?

My first thought was a malicious allegation, but the response seems OTT for something complete unsubstantiated. There have been allegations at schools I've worked at and they haven't been handled like this. What's your experience?

OP posts:
Notquiteagandt · 28/06/2018 18:12

Also just a thought if it was fraud/something sinistir. Surely they dont know if other staff are involved. So haulling him off in middle of day whilst others could potentially see and then destroy evidence would be a pretty silly move to make?

Weezol · 28/06/2018 18:16

You won't be told anything until/unless the investigation proceeds to a charge. The Head may be exonerated at interview stage - innocent until proven guilty and all that.

The 'leave of abscence' is the only information that can be given to parents, and that's all you'll get unless the CPS agree to charge the Head with an offence or he is disciplined by his employer or professional body.

Original poster
ReadingRiot · 28/06/2018 18:18

I know I'm jumping ahead but if it is a safeguarding issue would the parents of the child/ren involved be told? Presumably those children would need some support?

OP posts:
Racecardriver · 28/06/2018 18:20

Is it a primary school? Cpr has been preparing cases against schools fraudulently over diagnosing learning difficulties to claim extra funding. Or maybe he was perpetrating some kind of fraud by stealing money from the school? Could be an event unrelated to the school like tax fraud or death of a family member.

ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 28/06/2018 18:36

I know I'm jumping ahead but if it is a safeguarding issue would the parents of the child/ren involved be told? Presumably those children would need some support?

No, they won’t tell parents if their child was harmed or at risk. They’ll just let them wonder and worry and sort themselves out if support is needed. Come on now Op, think it through.

Original poster
ReadingRiot · 28/06/2018 18:41

Haha gotta love MN, on the one hand you're being ridiculous to want to know anything at all and otoh it's obvious you'll be told everything Grin

OP posts:
ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 28/06/2018 18:51

Well no, not unless you actually are one of the parents of a child who was hypothetically harmed or at risk.

rainingcatsanddog · 28/06/2018 18:53

A teacher at my kids school was teaching on a Tuesday and didn't come in on Wednesday. On Wednesday evening the kids found out online that he'd been charged with child pornography offences. Thursday morning school sends email to parents. A few days after that police were able to say that no children at the school were in these images but counselling was available if anyone needed it.

I wouldn't expect to hear details until he'd been charged by the police.

Original poster
ReadingRiot · 28/06/2018 19:00

How would they know they have details of all the children who had been harmed Zibbidoo? Presumably (if it is a safeguarding issue) the situation would come to light because of a specific complaint. You're not going to find out how many were involved without talking to people.

OP posts:
buzz91 · 28/06/2018 19:15

Rainingcatsanddog, that is incredibly quick they must have had a lot of evidence on him etc. I used to work in sports coaching and a man who worked there and as a cubs leader just stopped turning up to work one day, higher management were told he would not be returning but they could not be informed why. It took over a year for him to be charged with possession of child pornography but we only found out for sure because it was in the paper

Anasnake · 28/06/2018 19:16

They won't inform parents until they are formally charged.

Wellthen · 28/06/2018 19:29

I hate the way people bleat ‘but safeguarding!’ when what they mean is ‘I’m trying to think of a reason I need to know this’

A key element of safeguarding is keeping information between those who need to know. To keep children safe and the situation calm and to give them dignity.

That’s before you even consider the fact that if it does relate to his job (why are we assuming it does, surely it could be literally any crime?!) he is innocent until proven guilty and hr and the governors have a duty to protect his safety and dignity as well.

I get why you’re curious but ‘surely we need to know’ is clutching at straws. If you needed to know you would know. Be thankful therefore that you haven’t been asked to a meeting concerning your child.

ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 28/06/2018 20:22

How would they know they have details of all the children who had been harmed Zibbidoo

It would very much depend on the nature of the incident. Sometimes it’s very clear who the victims are.

ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 28/06/2018 20:23

Exactly wellthen

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 28/06/2018 20:23

You don’t get money per sen child now unless they have a statement/ehcp.

ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 28/06/2018 20:24

You're not going to find out how many were involved without talking to people.

Thankfully, the police are better at this kind of thing than you. Wink

Thundercracker · 28/06/2018 21:24

They would tell parents “leave of absence” even if he were suspended pending an investigation in my direct experience.

You may have seen him leaving with a group of people in suits. To jump from that fact to that they were police, and then to go to “he’s been arrested for abusing children” as your rumour mill seems to have taken it would win Greg Rutherford a medal. It is INCREDIBLY unlikely they would arrest him in public at his place of work, or put him in handcuffs.

Your school community will be told what it is necessary that you know, when and if you need to know it. Nothing else.

Original poster
ReadingRiot · 28/06/2018 21:28

Zibbidoo, and I do understand the original point but I think recent history shows us that's not actually the case.

OP posts:
ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 28/06/2018 21:41

Well you best get on the case then OP. Sounds like you know how to conduct an investigation despite not having the foggiest idea who those men in suits were or what you would even be investigating. Best of luck, let us know how the case goes.

Witchend · 28/06/2018 22:30
Grin Rumours like that abounded among the parents and children when our junior head disappeared for a term. We were told "personal reasons", and all the teachers denied knowing anything more.

Apparently he'd been marched out by police and his study was covered with police tape. He'd tried to get back to school and been prevented... he'd been caught fiddling the figures/had hit the deputy/been hiring the hall out to family members etc.
We had people tell these things who claimed to know/have seen it.

It's several years later, he's never missed again and a few weeks ago I was talking to someone who knows him as a friend. They mentioned the "term he was off due to depression". Which was roughly what I suspected. So all those people who said they "saw" were all talking Tonypandy.

Vietnammark · 28/06/2018 22:52

Not in the UK, but whilst being the CEO of a language school I was removed from a school by 4-5 people in suits.

At the time I was negotiating with the owners to buy the school from them and this was part of their negotiation strategy.

I still went on to buy the school from them.

MrsPreston11 · 29/06/2018 11:07

Happened at my secondary school. Child porn on the guys PC.

mindutopia · 29/06/2018 12:40

You absolutely should be told what's going on and it should be very transparent, even during the investigation stage. We had a situation at my dd's nursery when she was younger. A member of staff was arrested (nothing to do with the nursery, something in his personal life, not arrested on site, still have no idea what but it obviously wasn't a safeguarding issue related to children at the nursery). A letter was sent home that afternoon explaining that a member of staff had been arrested (it was easy to work out who, though the letter never specified, but it said 'he' and there were only two male staff and the other one was still there). A staff person was appointed to handle all concerns raised by parents and then two parents were named who could liaise between parents and staff. So within about 12 hours of the arrest, we were notified and given contact details of 3 people we could meet with to discuss any worries. It was very transparent. I imagine with a head it's going to be a bigger story so maybe has to be handled a bit more delicately for various reasons, but there should be openness and I would expect parents to be told something at least by the next day if not the day it happened frankly, though the details may still be kept pretty vague.

Thundercracker · 29/06/2018 13:00

Mindutopia - I’m pretty horrified that the nursery did all of that in circumstances where it was nothing to do with his work to be honest especially since, given you don’t know what it was all about, it doesn’t even sound as though they had to manage the public relations issue of it being all over the news.

Charmatt · 29/06/2018 13:05

If there is an allegation of wrongdoing then you should not be told anything. It has to be investigated without prejudice so it remains confidential.

Unless your children have been harmed you have no right to know. You may never be told.