‘Vicious’ official at special needs trust banned from teaching

THE chief executive of an academy for special needs pupils has been banned from teaching for bullying staff after calling them “useless f---ers”.

Sarah Gillett, the former boss of ACE Schools Multi Academy Trust in Plymouth, was described by staff as “vicious” and “threatening”, a teaching conduct panel heard.

The trust, which has schools in Devon and Cornwall, specialises in teaching children aged four to 16.

Ms Gillett, 48, was found guilty of bullying and “unacceptable professional conduct” after it came to light that she had berated staff and lied about a qualification.

The panel also concluded that she “engineered” the redundancy of a member of staff in retaliation for a grievance he had raised about her in summer 2016.

The “trigger” for staff escalating concerns was a staff meeting in March 2019, following an Ofsted inspection that had rated the trust “good” overall and “outstanding” in parts.

The panel heard Ms Gillett, who had taken up her post in July 2016, told staff they had let ACE down and were wasting

‘Staff felt inhibited from raising any concerns either informally or through the whistleblowing policy’

taxpayers’ money.

She said there was no room in the school for staff who were not performing and that she needed to get rid of people if they were not good enough.

Addressing the entire body of staff, Ms Gillett said “I love ya, but I am coming for ya” or words to that effect, in what she claimed was a quote from a Turkish film.

The panel heard that she used an expletive to tell a meeting of senior leaders they could leave the job if they did not like it.

Ms Gillett had a propensity to send “stinger” or “stinker” emails berating staff, according to the evidence heard.

The conduct panel said her behaviour towards staff constituted bullying.

It said: “Staff felt inhibited from raising any concerns either informally or through the whistleblowing policy and/ or grievance policies, which in turn may create a serious risk that safeguarding issues are not raised by staff.”

Ms Gillett was suspended from her position as chief executive in May 2019 and left ACE in July 2019, “by way of mutual agreement, prior to any disciplinary hearing taking place”.