Education inspectors have ‘no concerns’ over school leadership

EDUCATION i nspectors have said they have “no concerns” over leadership at High School of Dundee after it was ordered to pay £60,000 to a former teacher who claimed he was bullied out of his job.

A letter sent to parents said the school’s board “disagreed” with factual aspects of the employment tribunal but it asked for its annual engagement visit to be brought forward because of the case.

The tribunal found former teacher Daniel Goodey had been bullied out of his job after he refused to apologise for sighing at a pupil who stormed out of his class in a “teenage huff”.

Judge Ian McFatridge said evidence presented to the tribunal by rector John Halliday and deputy Lise Hudson, who will succeed Mr Halliday in January, was unreliable.

The case has prompted a flurry of complaints from parents about management at the school, which charges f ees of up t o £13,650 a year.

In his letter, High School chairman Ian Bett states: “The board is currently considering whether to appeal the decision.

“While we disagree with many factual aspects of the tribunal report, we are not complacent. We are committed to reviewing everything we have done to date.

“It is crucial we are open and transparent, and committed to learning any and all lessons that we can, in order to ensure the very best outcomes.”

Since the tribunal’s decision was published, the school has held two open meetings with staff and another two with parents.

Mr Bett said the school also met, at its own request, its link inspector f r o m H e r M a j e s t y ’s Inspectorate. He t ol d parents: “She assured us that HMIE had no concerns about the leadership, management or governance.

“However, the school agreed we would work with her to ensure that our routine annual engagement visit will be brought forward and would focus on lessons learnt from the tribunal.”