pushed into Early retirement

[seaurchin2016]

It is a long story so I'll try to keep it as short as possible.
Job: Secondary school teacher of 30 + years and rated excellent by Ofsted and others prior to joining my last school 3 years ago.
Head of dept was really nasty and bullied me really badly. I went down all routes, unions, OH, grievances, governors etc but to no avail. The bullying got worse and I ended up off work many times through stress and depression. School didn't really do anything. New headmaster started targeting me for every thing he could. I couldn't breathe without him taking out formal meetings. rest of dept left one by one and they were replaced by newly qualified teachers and some were not even qualified.
I was dismissed through ill health last year. I decided to take early retirement even though I didn't wish to retire. I love teaching and I feel as though part of my heart has been wrenched out of me. I'm 57 years old.
I have considered doing supply but would I get work with the dismissal through ill health hanging over my head?

Oh I forgot to say that I'm the main wage earner and my pension doesn't cover the bills etc. So, I'm really struggling. I feel as though my life is over.

I'm sorry you are feeling this way. I'm assuming as you were getting union support the union felt there was no unfair dismissal/constructive dismissal case worth bringing. In which case there's nothing you can do about the first two paragraphs of your post.

The relevant question is whether or not the dismissal due to ill health will affect your plan to do supply work. When you were dismissed was there any settlement agreement and/or any discussion about what references would be given on your behalf in the event of your wishing to seek work elsewhere?

When I was dismissed there was no settlement agreement or agreed references.

You should check the terms of your early retirement. I can recall a conversation with a friend, who retired early due to ill health, from teaching. Apparently she can work when she is well enough, but cannot go back to teaching, as her pension has clicked in, which is a pension to cover the fact she can no longer teach! You might want to check, as you too were retired due to ill health and the pension is on the basis that you are not well enough to teach.

I wasn't retired due to ill health. I was dismissed due to ill health. So, I didn't have a job and then I took early retirement. So, I wasn't given retirement on the grounds of ill health. My pension was given because I decided to go for early retirement later on.

Could you apply for role in private education? My understanding from a friend is that the environment is much more conducive and I am sure the right school would vale your skills and experience.

Goodness, your Union were a bit negligent then. No discussion about what references your employer would give?!

Assuming you are thinking of supply through an agency, and assuming the agency needs references, I think your first step ought to be to find out what the HT would say if someone enquired. Then you are working from an informed position.

You then also need to speak to the agency, and reassure them that your health problems are dealt with, assuming that is the case.