This article by Tom Whitehead has been extracted from the Daily Telegraph here A teacher’s human rights were breached after police included unproven allegations against him in a criminal records check, the High Court ruled yesterday. The PE teacher has not worked for more than two years because the allegation remained on his record even though police [...]
Kent Council Council pays £700k in compensation to pupils.
April 12, 2013 from Leave a Comment
The BBC have reported (see below) that Kent Council Council pays £700k in compensation to pupils. Nearly £700,000 has been paid out in compensation to pupils by Kent County Council following accidents in schools over the past five years. Payouts include compensation for trips and falls in playgrounds, and accidents on school trips. The biggest [...]
teachers won record amounts of compensation last year after suffering accidents, injuries or assaults at school
April 5, 2013 from Leave a Comment
It has been reported in the Guardian that teachers won record amounts of compensation last year after suffering accidents, injuries or assaults at school, figures show. One secondary school teacher was awarded more than £382,000 after his arm was caught in a filing cabinet, and another won £240,000 after working in a poorly ventilated workshop [...]
Pupils who make malicious accusations against their teachers could face criminal prosecution
July 18, 2011 from Leave a Comment
This article by Richard Garner first appeared in the Independent here. Pupils who make malicious accusations against their teachers could face criminal prosecution under new guidance on school discipline issued by the Government. Figures show that as many as one in four school staff have been accused of wrongdoing, often claims of assault, by pupils [...]
Department for Education update statutory guidance on dealing with allegations of abuse.
July 14, 2011 from Leave a Comment
The Department for Education have updated their statutory guidance for dealing with allegations of abuse. About this guidance This guidance issued from the Department for Education is statutory. This means recipients (including LEA’s, Schools, Govenors etc, must have regard to it when carrying out duties relating to handling allegations of abuse against teachers and other [...]
Teachers will be allowed to use force on unruly pupils as ministers lift ‘no touching’ rules to restore classroom discipline
July 12, 2011 from Leave a Comment
There is comprehensive coverage in the DAILY MAIL’s (11th July) on the Education Minister’s decision to axed Labour’s 600-page guidance on pupil discipline- which they claim confused teachers – and replaced it with just 52 pages. The new guidance comes as figures from the Department for Education revealed that nearly 1,000 pupils are excluded for [...]
Teacher who challenged rowdy pupil sacked after 30 years in schools.
May 26, 2011 from Leave a Comment
The following story has been extracted from the Daily Mail web site A teacher with 30 years’ experience told yesterday how he was sacked after a rowdy pupil claimed he grabbed his arm and left four small scratch marks. Ronnie Lane, 56, admitted confronting the unruly 15-year-old boy, who had special educational needs, after he [...]
Norfolk teacher cleared
February 7, 2011 from Leave a Comment
This report by Christine Cunningham appeared on EDP on the 5th February 2011 A dedicated retired art teacher was last night hoping to rebuild his life after being cleared of sexually assaulting a pupil at a Norfolk school. Christopher Harvey, 63, a former teacher at Northgate High School, Dereham, was yesterday cleared by a Norwich [...]
New education bill will give protection for teachers falsely accused by pupils
January 28, 2011 from 1 Comment
This article by Kate Loveys appeared in the Daily Mail on the 27th January 2011 New education bill will give protection for teachers falsely accused by pupils Teachers are to be granted anonymity when pupils make allegations against them, which will only be lifted if a charge is made. The proposals are set out in [...]
Swansea teacher sacked after taking pupils sledging
January 12, 2011 from Leave a Comment
A teacher was sacked after bringing a sledge into school and allowing two pupils to ride on it, a disciplinary hearing has heard. Design teacher Richard Tremelling said he took it to Cefn Hengoed Community School, Swansea, in February 2009 as an example of “classic design”. He was dismissed for failing to follow the school’s [...]
Teachers must be free to touch children says Gove as he vows to restore common sense in schools
January 8, 2011 from Leave a Comment
Michael Gove has said music teachers must be free to touch children to show them techniques, after a performers’ group said all physical contact should be avoided. The Musicians’ Union sparked outrage when they released a video, supported by the NSPCC, telling teachers not to get too close to youngsters – amid fears they could [...]
Information Commissioner says Nativity photos not against law
December 8, 2010 from Leave a Comment
The regulator said parents should be free to photograph their children in nativity plays, the Information Commissioner has said. The advice was issued after a number of schools banned photography on their premises to protect pupils who were adopted or in foster care. Earlier this week a father complained he was threatened with arrest at [...]
Use of force: the need for greater clarity
November 1, 2010 from Leave a Comment
Our attention has been drawn to a very useful article written by Dai Durbridge , a solicitor working for Browne Jacobson, who specialise in defending compensation cases made against local authorities. Mr Durbridge is an safeguarding specialist. The article which appears on the Teaching Expertise website begins… As the government prepares to introduce new guidance [...]
Statutory Instruments 2010 No. 2426 (W.208) (C.119) CRIMINAL LAW, WALES
October 21, 2010 from Leave a Comment
This Order brings into force on 31 October 2010 sections 45 and 46 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 in relation to Wales. Section 45 of that Act inserts a new section 550AA into the Education Act 1996 relating to the power of members of staff to search pupils for weapons. Section 46 of [...]
BBC report more than 1700 school staff accused of misconduct
October 2, 2010 from 2 Comments
More than 1700 staff in UK schools were accused of misbehaviour by parents or pupils last year, figures obtained by the BBC reveal. More than half of these were allegations of physical assault or “inappropriate restraint”, Freedom of Information data reveals. And 143 of those accused were dismissed or resigned. Teachers facing allegations in England [...]
Government to end no touch rules in schools
October 2, 2010 from Leave a Comment
“No touch” rules discouraging teachers from restraining and comforting children are to be scrapped, Education Secretary Michael Gove has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Gove said the move was part of a “new deal” for teachers. They would also be given the right to anonymity when faced by allegations from pupils. Mr [...]
Number of complaints against Norfolk and Suffolk school staff revealed
August 26, 2010 from Leave a Comment
Parents in Norfolk and Suffolk were last night reassured that incidents remain “extremely rare” after new figures showed more than 250 complaints were made against school staff in the two counties during the last year. The alleged incidents – 139 in Norfolk and 109 in Suffolk – are among more than 1,700 across England unearthed [...]
Teachers sexually abused by pupils
August 25, 2010 from Leave a Comment
According to the Christian Institute Teachers in Britain have faced sexual groping, touching and leering from school children, with one teacher even being subjected to a threat of rape by a child. A total of 305 incidents were included a disturbing report with one involving an eight-year-old boy who licked a teacher’s leg and touched [...]
NUT comment on Teacher Allegations
August 11, 2010 from Leave a Comment
Commenting on today’s reporting of FOI data relating to allegations against teachers during the past year, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said; “Most allegations against school staff are false or even malicious allegations, made when teachers intervene to restore good behaviour at school. Only a small [...]
British teacher on holiday accused of rape by woman ‘who preys on tourists’
August 9, 2010 from Leave a Comment
A teacher was arrested and held in a Greek jail after being falsely accused of rape by a woman his lawyer alleged preyed on tourists to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation. Ross Mitchell, 34, met his Swedish accuser when she worked alongside him in a bar on the holiday isle of Kos [...]