head teacher sacked my child..need advice possibly legal advice

[errdunno]

I had a meeting with the head of my childs school to talk about the next year teacher.
I asked lots of questions about that new teacher and the head didnt want to answer any of those questions and had no qualms saying so.
I told her why we were so concerned, why we were to accept,again,for the third year in a row,an NQT,very young,and who had previously applied for a full time position at the school and had been turned down but we were being asked to accept her as a temporary teacher.

That meeting fell apart and we pretty much hated each other!
But all that is by the by because the next day..the last day of term..the head walked in to my childs class and inexplicably asked him to stand up and then announced to his schoolmates that he was leaving the school and could everyone wish him goodbye.?

He is/was stunned and in tears for weeks,and refused to go back to the same school..I coulnt talk to the school or govenors about it-they were on holiday!
so I moved him to a private school that we are vvv happy with.
I have since complained to the school Lea and the govenors but there has been total silence from all of them.
Thing is.I feel this woman is clearly out of control and needs to explain what she did.
I feel so bad for my other half who now has to pay for a private school as there was no room at any other school locally.
Could I sue the school? it is afer all constructive dissmissal?
What do you think?

so sorry loads of spelling missteaks!
Im so cross forgot manners!

This happened weeks ago, and you haven't yet spoken to the Headteacher?

This presumably happened at the end of July. So what sort of contact have you had with the school since then? Presumably your child came home and told you what had occurred in class. Had withdrawing your child from the school been mentioned in your discussion with the headteacher? And do you mean you have put formal complaints in writing to school and LEA and they have not been responded to in any way?

I don't umderstand a school can;t "sack a chid" they can permanently exclude but this is very hard to achieve and it is a formal process.

I think the OP chose to remove her child from the school after this incident. The equivalent workplace situation, I suppose, would be constructive dismissal. But I don't understand why she says she couldn't talk to the school - in my experience the head is usually about for a good part of the summer holidays. There is clearly more to this than the OP has said.

I emailed the school straight away and they asked me to email the chair of govenors as the head was away for 4 weeks.
The subsequent emails have been weekly from myself to the head and the chair and I included in the lea complaints officer who has been guiding through due process but both the school and the chair have not replied at all except one email to say that it was on an agenda item at a meeting in Oct.
the lea officer has now advised me to contact the department of schools to further investigate but Iam suspecting a "Circleing of the wagons" especially now I find out that they will only intervene if the child is still at the school,which he isnt,and even more so now hes at a private school!!!
all involved want his to go away Im thinking

Iam now thinking if I can get a formal aplogy from her for causing this distress..he has lost all his friends...thankfully now making some new ones but he was with all the other kids for years!(he is now in year 5)We occasionally see some of his old friends around town,he waves but dosnt want to talk to them,he has the feeling that he has done something really bad to his old school for her to want to get rid of him....I tell him it was all my fault..well it was,if only I hadnt argued with her about this new teacher...he is a good boy,and has never given us any trouble at all bless him..he just wants this all to go away and forget he ever went there.
We cant even go to mass now as the priest keeps giving us hard looks...we have even had to change our church...not our religeon I add!
Shall I let it drop? I dont really want to,I want her to explain.

This seems a very complex situation. And I find it hard to believe that the priest is giving you hard looks because of something that happened 4 months ago in a school! What sort of Christian is that?!
Although I'm not sure exactly why the debate with the head teacher became so heated about employing NQTs? They are, after all, qualified teachers, often with lots of enthusiasm and full awareness of current legislation etc.
It all sounds very complicated.

your child was told to leave the school and you did nothing? Surely the head was there that day?

Don't remember telling the headteacher you were withdrawing your son out of anger or anything?
One minute you're telling us "there has been total silence" from the LEA, next their complaints officer "has been guiding through due process".

Didn't you ask about the outcome of the meeting in October? And what the hell has it got to do with the priest?!

This doesn't ring true at all and I think there's far more to this which you haven't told us, with which the head's actions would seem completely reasonable. More information please

Not sure why you withdrew your son and moved him to another school without first discussing things with the head or the governers to find out what was going on.

As someone else pointed out, schools can't just 'sack' a pupil. You have withdrawn your son from the school. Whatever the head may have said she couldn't throw him out of the school without going through a set procedure.

Is it possible that there has been a misunderstanding? Perhaps your son misunderstood what the Head said or maybe the Head misunderstood what you were saying at the meeting. Did you give her any cause to think that your son would not be going back after the holiday?
These are some things that I would have wanted clearing up before I withdrew my child from the school.

But if you pretty much hate the Head as you say you do (seems a bit extreme) maybe it's better that your son is not at the school anymore and you don't have to deal with her.

Ive had my fair share of primary school angst unfortunately my eldest ds was bullied by teacher -yes hard to believe but true it took 2 years and many hours with many people of power before she was offered early retirement [angry.

Another teacher (yes we meet em all)caused ds2 much misery and the situation was excaberated when he physically manhandled ds2 and the police were willing to arrest the teacher.....this was a catholic school attatched to the church ds2 was an altar boy we chose to remove him because he was literally afraid of this teacher and never once have we heard from school or church!!!!(we had a meeting where the teacher admitted man handling ds2 but by week later ds2 health had worsened and the pressure of the fear of this teacher was worsening it)

school problems arent easily resolved unless school can put the blame on nother child -when its one of their own they close ranks.

Incidentally any correspondance with the chair of govs has to be first initially sent to the head you cant go direct the governors are generally connected to school anyway parents,local politicians/policeman and teachers and of course the head has a close reltionship with the chair.

tbh i cant see you getting anywhere as you say youve withdrawn your dc-time has moved on and in time peoples version of the meeting that led to this will become fuzzy and people do move on and become reluctant to be involved YOU know as well as I do the head will 'recall' you saying you would withdraw your child and as she believed you had no intention of returning after the summer she was cting in the best interests of your dc ensuring he got a friendly farewell -shit happens and it is shit,but fighting the system is like pi*ng in the wind it will all blow back on you.

for u tho -its bloody awful.

Dont get me wrong school can be a fantastic place but equally like cheap shoes it can be a waste of time and v painful.

Good post, Sparklestick.

i'm with tsap.

why didn't you continue to send him in?

they cannot just announce your child isnt oing there

there are formal processes to adhere to

Just to say that you can go direct to the governers. Address any mail to the Chair of the Governers. However, as Sparkle says, they usually have a close relationship with the Head.

It might be worth a look at the Advisory Centre for Education website.

So you never spoke to the headteacher about what happened before enrolling your ds into another school? How bizarre.

My understanding is that post Victoria Climbie schools cannot remove a child from their register until they have had confirmation that the child is on another school register (or is otherwise educated).

In terms of the constructive dismissal I think that this is very much a red herring, though I appreciate the analogy. The thing is that no-one would expect that the word of a 9 year old would be accepted as the total truth of a situation.

It sounds as if you have moved your son on and are happier for doing so. Unless you have a specific desire for him to return to this school then I wouldn't pursue this further tbh. Certainly you wouldn't be able to sue for damages - the best that you could hope for would be to have his place reinstated.

This is a very odd situation, I cannot believe that a head teacher would go into a classroom and remove a child like that. It is too bizarre. They have no powers to do that. It is a long and complex procedure excluding a child. You sound as if you are very paranoid and confused. Please go down to the Lea and demand to see someone. Although the long gap is also very strange.

This is just sooo unlikely that there definitely must be more to it. I would love to hear the heads version. The fact that you were in there complaining about her choice of staff leads me to suspect that you might be a tad excitable and even if you didn't mouth off that you would remove your son if she didn't do what you want, I'll bet people would believe her if she said you did.
But hey, your son is doing well and settling in to a school that might be better for him. Why not just leave it?

Just to say that you can go direct to the governers. Address any mail to the Chair of the Governers. However, as Sparkle says, they usually have a close relationship with the Head.

juule i read that in the advisory notes too but in practice at 2 different schools it was referred directly back to the head in the first instance

lady muck in 2000 my eldest ds was removed from school for over 2 years he remained on their register (we didnt formally withdraw him -the school was good it was this one teacher- the LEA paid for a tutor) and after 2 and a bit years ds1 returned to the school-shoertly after we moved back to our home town and the ewo came to visit me to enquire why ds1 had had 2+ years off school with no withdrawal!!!

if wed have withdrawn him the school would have said it wasnt a issue anymore we needed him registered t that school but unable to attend.

bamboostalks ....
You sound as if you are very paranoid and confused. Please go down to the Lea and demand to see someone. Although the long gap is also very strange.

people said that to us too although when the teacher left funnily enough they were saying how well wed done to stick to our morales.

this teacher bullied different children for 15 years that i was able to trace and had had complaints about her for at least 15 years.

sparklestick, exactly. If you had registered him at another school then he would have had to have been removed from the existing register, but until that point he stays on the register.

But as the OP decided to put him into a different school then I suspect it is time to turn ones back on the past and move forward.

sorry bit upset last night1
to summerise
the last day of term head walked into the class and told my boy to stand up and then told everyone he was leaving.OMG

i called the school the next day but was asked to email in
when i called again on the first day of the holiday i was told she was away for 4 weeks.
my boy was upset embarrassed and didnt want to go back
I sorted another school(private as there was no space at any other school locally)5 days before term started in Sept.
As seemingly everyone to do with schools was away in Aug there was no-one to talk to but I did keep emailing the school the govenors and the lea,(working thru Aug!)who as said only advise you what to do next and wont be drawn in to specific incidents.
On the fist day back at the old school I had a email from a govenor to say it was on agenda to be disscissed.
since then nothing.
the lea have reminded the school of their obligation to contact me but say they cant make them.

The priest is a govenor at the school and is up there every day,thats why he looks and me so hard.he is very involved with the school as its a faith school.

reading thru previous posts cupofteaplease said why had I argued with the head about NQTs
if I can explain
In July, a rumour went round our class like wildfire that the upcoming teacher was a temporary one and she had applied for the vacant full time post but had been turned down... but the school then went on to ask her to teach till they had filled post.
In addition this teacher app wanted something called non contact time in order to meet some requirments?
As I work full time I rely on my childminder to relay gossip and I was mindfull that it was gossip so I made an appointment to talk it thru with the head..the day before the end of term...at that meeting she accidentaly confirmed that this teacher had applied but was un-succsessfull with that application but then tried to correct herself by saying she shouldnt be talking about staff as it broke confidential rules and she then proceeded to ask me not to tell other parents!!
I couldnt beleive it!!
thats why the meeting broke down so quickly she knew she had put her foot in it and wanted me out asap
I certainly did not say I was taking my boy out and in any case shouldnt that be done in writing?
Can I also add here that this head is a bit famous for her "gaffs" but it still dosnt explain why she "outed" my child in that way.

I'm still not sure why the recruitment of the new teacher is such a big problem or how the Head 'put her foot in it'. I can't see how what appears from your posts to be an enquiry about a new teacher reached such a pitch.

It all sounds a bit odd.

As others have said, your son is not in the school now and it might be better to put this behind you and move on.

Maybe have a chat with the priest to discuss your concerns and maybe clear the air?