Headteacher sues school after boss humiliated her in front of Ofsted inspector

23 January 2024 , 18:09

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A headteacher at Tyldesley Primary School in Wigan won a payout after she was 'humiliated' by her boss in front of an Ofsted inspector

A headteacher has successfully sued her former employer after claiming her boss dressed her down during an Ofsted inspection over a marking error.

Deborah Lingard was left "humiliated" after executive headteacher Yvonne Brown brought out an exercise book belonging to her son - who was in Ms Lingard's class - pointing out the error and threatening to move him to a private school, a tribunal found. The "talented" Year 5 teacher had been head at Tyldesley Primary School in Wigan, Greater Manchester, at the time, but had had a "considerable dispute" with executive head Ms Brown.

A report from Manchester Employment Tribunal said Ms Lingard claimed the "majority" of her decisions had to be rubber-stamped by Ms Brown, who was known to "control many aspects" and, according to another employee, would even call on the home phone about work matters. One incident during a November 2016 inspection saw Ms Brown leave Ms Lingard "humiliated" after threatening to pull her own son out of the school and send him to another, the tribunal heard.

It came during a discussion about high achievers at the school and Mrs Brown had noticed a marking error in her son's book. The tribunal report said "The challenging high achievers issue was discussed in this meeting and Yvonne Brown went to get some books from the nearest classroom to assist the discussion.

"This included her son’s books as he was a high achiever and Yvonne Brown noticed a marking error by the Year 5 teacher and began to criticise the teacher. YB said she had never referred to her son’s books specifically it was about high achievers in general as this was one of the issues.

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"The claimant said that YB went on to say that unless matters improved she would be taking her son out of the school. YB denied she said this on this occasion but that she had said that on a separate occasion in July 2016 in parents evening when she was attending as a parent, not at the meeting with Mr Iwaskow [the Ofsted inspector]."

Yvonne Brown, chief executive of Leading Learners Multi Academy Trust and former head of Tyldesley Primary School

Employment Judge Pauline Feeney ruled the 'humiliating' incident amounted to a breach of employment law, saying the exercise book incident clearly "seriously undermined and humiliated Mrs Lingard in front of a stranger", particularly one who was "going to play an important role in improving the school."

"There was no reasonable and proper cause for saying this in front of a third party," the judge said. Mrs Lingard, who has hypertension, claimed her treatment at school led her to being off work sick and she resigned in March 2017.

As well as the 'undermining incident', the tribunal ruled she was constructively dismissed on other grounds. Her claims of disability discrimination failed. The tribunal heard of other disputes Ms Lingard had had with Ms Brown while at the school, including how, in one meeting, Mrs Brown was "aggressive and hostile" telling her she was not up to the job.

Judge Feeney added: "We consider these individually and collectively to be fundamental breaches, in that there was no attempt to support Mrs Lingard in her illness, but rather to put unreasonable pressure on her."

The tribunal award equates to more than £190k, but with salary capping and other factors taken into account, the Manchester Evening News reports she will receive less than half of that amount.

The school's trust, Leading Learners MAT, previously came under fire in 2019 for its finances over bosses spending more than £1,880 on bar bills and £270-a-night hotel rooms. It also made headlines in 2017 after it transpired £4,000 of taxpayers’ cash was squandered on scrapped plans to turn a double decker bus into a library.

A spokesperson for Leading Learners MAT said in response to the ruling that "while we do not agree with the final outcome, we have to respect the decision that has been made", adding that the tribunal also sided with the trust on a number of points.

"As a Trust we always strive to ensure that every child and colleague can flourish by being part of our community. We are sorry if anyone feels that we have not acted with the best of intentions to get the right outcome for all of our brilliant children."

Emma Gill