A PUPIL THAT SAW HIM AWARDED £60K PAYOUT
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frustration” at her attitude and instructed her “not to walk away angry”. The girl’s mum complained to the school and said her daughter no longer wanted to be taught by him. An internal investigation resulted in the pupil being removed from his class.
Daniel was then pressured to give the girl a written apology, which he refused to do.
He left his post following meetings with rector Halliday which the tribunal ruled were “extremely threatening and pupilspupi could refuse to engageengag with assignments.
“ThThe meetings with Mr HalHallidliday were fraught. They wwere confrontational and designeddes to intimidate – raised voices, long silences, being madem to wait outside for half an hour after my appointappointment time.
“I exprexpressed dismay at the lack of supsupport I was receiving from the school.
“During my final meeting withith seniorsen managers , I continued to be pressed into providing an apology.
“It had been four weeks since the incident and I still hadn’t seen the original complaint.
“Once I did have the details, I found that the issue, according to the pupil, was not actually me but her insecurity at not being able to do the work well enough.
“Had I known this earlier, I could have reassured her that she was doing quite well.
“During a meeting with Mrs Hudson and Mr Clarke, I explained how I was hurt at the way I’d been treated.
“I felt that they, and Mr Halliday, had acted in a bullying and intimidating manner.
“They met with Mr Halliday and jointly decided to launch an investigation into my behaviour.
“I ’ d seen t h is approach in the past a nd h a d seen teachers suddenly leave the school.
“I felt this was unfair and would probably lead to my position being terminated. So I filed a formal grievance with the board of directors.
“An invest igat ion and subsequent appeals were conducted, which the judge determined to have been extremely prejudicial and biased.
“The board don’t accept that any staff have been badly treated. I find it hard to believe that they continue to take this stance.
“For the sake of the school, its staff and pupils, I do hope they change their minds.”
Daniel ’ s l awyer, Steve McLaren of Perth, said he had received no notification of an appeal by the school.
But Iain Bett, chairman of the High School of Dundee’s board of directors, said the school was considering appealing against the tribunal’s judgment.
He added: “The school completely refutes these allegations about its culture, which are not supported by facts.
“Turnover of staff is low. Other than Mr Goodey, 16 permanent teaching staff have left in the past two years, representing six per cent of staff per annum.
“People have retired, relocated or moved on to other posts, including promoted posts and opportunities abroad.”