WWYD - secondary school options but HT suspended

[JustShout]

We live in an area where we would prefer to send the children to a private secondary school. The state option isn't great with huge class sizes in particular.

There are only 3 private schools within a 45 mile radius. We were set on one. We actively didn't like one other and the third is very very small and doesn't feel like a good fit (sporty, outdoorsy- not right for mine).

But the HT of our preference has just been suspended- apparently due to an incident at the Christmas party. No other details although lots of local gossip.

Would this make you think again? Have another look around the other schools? This is for 2025 entry.

Who is the acting headteacher? Make an appointment with them and discuss your concerns - are they recruiting a new headteacher. It’s quite rare for a headteacher in the private sector to be ‘suspended’ normally they resign immediately. Parents sadly gossip.

Our previous headteacher resigned with immediate effect - absolutely no wrong doing on his behalf either in or out of school. He had a breakdown as his relationship disintegrated over the summer and he was not mentally well and didn’t want to affect the school or himself. So he resigned.

I’m very surprised that it hadn’t been resolved yet in your case. Unless the headteacher is denying what happened etc I’m very surprised it is under so much gossip from parents.

There's an Interim Head - who is head of the upper school. HT is on paid leave of absence. Good idea to speak to them but I feel they won't be able to say much other than all the right (but bland) things.

Do you know anyone with children at the school? They might be able to reassure you... or not.

How do you know why?

Head at the (state) juniors disappeared for two terms once.
I had on good authority that he'd been arrested for hitting a child and letting his wife (nothing to do with the school) fiddling accounts. His office was covered in police tape, and he'd been arrested in front of the staff on an inset day

Only he hadn't. His wife had found to have a fairly aggressive type of cancer and he took two terms off to look after her. I knew that for a fact. When I suggested to the people telling otherwise that they might not be correct, apparently I was definitely wrong.

It's in the press. The press release said it's while they investigate a serious incident. The letter to parents says it only relates to other teachers and not a child.

I don't really know any parents. We live about 30 miles away and the others tend to be more popular locally (mainly because of bus routes)).

Agreed that some of the local gossip is WILD and in no way true (he'd have been arrested if some of it true).

I think if it were me I'd probably have two concerns:

1. If the head does leave, then appointing a new head can be a tricky time for a school, especially if it's unplanned and there's no smooth transition. A new head may potentially somewhat change the character of the school, which is what sounds like it appeals to you?

2. The general financial viability of the school. Some private schools (and not always the ones you expect) are definitely feeling the strain financially at the moment. Something like this might put off a lot of prospective parents, or cause other parents to withdraw, especially as there are other private schools locally, even if they're ones you don't like. This doesn't necessarily mean the school would close, but it could affect their ability to recruit teachers and might mean, for example, class sizes would increase.

It's not so much about what the head has or hasn't done (and I do know of a state school head who ultimately lost his job due to being inappropriate with young female staff, by all accounts he was a very good head in other ways, but my point is it does happen). It's more about the overall effect it would/could have on the school.

Do you have a viable second choice? Given it's a long commute anyway, are there any other private options or options like State grammar schools you could consider?

Thank you @Postapocalypticcowgirl - that's articulated the worry. We can look at the other two again and I think we should.

There's also a third - an international school - but I've never been drawn to it - lots of kids go just for a year or two then move away.

No other state options (rural Scotland- the local Academy is good - top 15 in Scotland- but absolutely huge with pockets of poor performance especially in STEM topics. All the kids get tutors- we are already on tutor waiting lists as they are 2 year plus - but I'd prefer a private option).

Hi @JustShout ! Sorry to hear about your quandary.

Unfortunately, no one can predict the future and what difference a Head will make. For example, our daughter's primary school ended up with four Heads in four years and we had concerns. Nothing changed even after the fourth Head stayed for a few years.

Her secondary school had the same Head for many years and we had concerns. Things improved when he suddenly left and an Interim Head took over for a while. But, throughout, our daughter loved this school: the culture was strong and distinctive, the teachers were generally highly effective and her relationships were generally good with staff and pupils alike. Factors like these are often much more significant than the identity of the Head. The peer group of pupils and the other families' values are much more significant.

So, in your position, I would stick with my original choice.

@JustShout If the local sec has a known weakness in Stem it will be doing everything it can to improve. English schools have a PAN based on 30 in a class. Just like a primary school. Are you coming from a tiny primary? Most secondaries don’t have huge classes. 30 or a few more is the norm everywhere that I know. 30 miles each way is quite far each day. Especially for an iffy school.

I just read about this in today's Sunday Times. Does confirm it being nothing to do with children, although I'm amazed he's not already resigned, as with so many witnesses it's not in question that something extremely inappropriate happened that there is no coming back from.

I would expect the school to contact all parents again urgently with more reassurance of how school management is being handled. Even though I don't think this should directly impact on the quality of education, my concern would also be on the financial security of the school, with this sort of scandal.

@butelass What about a professional misconduct hearing? The head could be subject to that and resigning is avoiding the gross misconduct hearing.

Part of the issue is that I'm not a current parent. We hadn't got to that stage. So I'm not going to get the parent communications. At least not directly.

The alternatives just aren't the right fit. But I do think we should think again.

@JustShout Some schools do publish them on web sites. Also schools try really hard to overcome these types of incidents and minimise effect on students.

@JustShout I'd not worry about the HT issue as hopefully someone decent will cover. But 30 miles commute is insane. Even rurally. How will the kids ever see their mates easily ?!?!

Can you say why it's huge class sixes at local one? 30 is totally normal & where I am year groups of 300-360

Whatever happened probably has no impact on the quality of education.

The max class size is technically 33, but there are various exceptions which the authority uses / has to use to the max. So a class of 35 is not uncommon. Add in poor maths teachers and it's not a good outcome.

Travelling to school is common here. They get the various school buses together. It's 27 miles to the state school so no big difference. The private school is near work for us both so makes it easier too - although for a couple of years we'll have one in the village primary and one further away so my WFH will continue.

Friendshio groups seem to work ok. They do Scouts and sports locally together at weekends etc.