Cleared after probe nightmare, head teacher accused of assault for tapping her own child’s hand

A PRIMARY school headmistress has won an unfair dismissal case after she was sacked for ‘assault’ – for tapping her toddler son’s hand while disciplining him.

Shelly-Ann Malabver- Goulbourne was trying to get her three-year-old to stop playing with a hand sanitiser in her office when she used two fingers to attract his attention, an employment tribunal heard.

The incident was witnessed by the teacher in charge of child safety, who accused her of hurting her son and completed a ‘cause for concern’ form to report a ‘safeguarding incident’.

It led to the head being suspended and the police called. Although officers ruled that her actions were ‘reasonable chastisement’ by a parent, Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was found guilty of gross misconduct and sacked.

She is in line for compensation after an employment judge concluded there was no evidence that she had committed ‘physical chastisement or an assault’ and ruled her dismissal unfair.

Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was the head of Northwold Primary

School in Hackney, east London, which is run by the Arbor Academy Trust. The hearing was told she had been a teacher for ‘many years’, had joined the trust in 2005 and employed as head since 2017 – five years before the incident that led to her sacking.

The tribunal heard she had her children aged three and 11 – described as ‘pupils’ at the school which also has a nursery – with her in her office at 6.20pm, where she had just finished a meeting with Ms Bhagwandas.

The younger child, referred to as J, ‘took up a bottle of hand sanitiser’ and was said to have squirted some of the liquid to the floor, prompting the head to take the bottle off him. Two weeks earlier the toddler had got hand sanitiser in his eye, the tribunal heard.

Ms Bhagwandas reported witnessing the head smack her son on the hand, that the child had been crying and that she had ‘pacified’ him. Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was suspended and a disciplinary investigation launched.

Although both the local authority and police thought no further action was necessary, the Trust ploughed on with its probe.

In May 2022, Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was sacked for gross misconduct. The Trust told her that ‘whether a tap or otherwise, this was unnecessary physical contact with a pupil, which constitutes an assault’ and a breach of policies and statutory guidance.

Employment Judge Julia Jones said the school’s code of conduct does not prohibit all physical contact between pupils and teachers and pointed out that as a parent of pupils that would be a difficult rule for the head to abide by.

Upholding her claim for unfair dismissal, the judge said the Trust ‘had sufficient evidence... that she was trying to prevent injury to her child and addressing his behaviour’, adding: ‘There was no evidence she had committed physical chastisement or an assault.’