7 December (Part 1) - Off her tiny rocker
The
Headmistress of the Jubilee Primary School in Thamesmead has taken leave of her senses again; you may remember her
refusal (later overturned by Trinitas Trust) to respond to a Subject Access Request.
As a taster for reports yet to come consider this…
A parent discovered that the teaching staff were in effect spying on them
through the inquisition of their daughter. Her younger brother is at the same
school and he had a minor accident at home and was wearing a small sticking
plaster over a scratch on his forehead.
Why didn’t the Headmistress have the common decency - or even common sense - to
ask the parents what had happened? The answer is that she has in the past attempted to cut them
off from the school. Yes, it is the same family as was
featured here just over a year ago.
The Vice Principal scolded the mother as follows…
We have been made aware by [daughter’s name] that [son’s name] injured his head on Saturday on
the radiator. This injury required attention at A&E where his wound needed to be
glued. We have kept a close eye on [son’s name] today as he had the plaster on his head
on arrival at school this morning. In future please share any relevant
information, especially regarding head injuries, via the office so that we know
if there is anything specific we need to keep an eye on eg: signs of concussion.
This may seem innocuous but why was the daughter interrogated instead of the parents? The
girl is the same age as her brother (but not twins) and should not have been considered a
reliable source on which to base an officious letter. The mother replied as follows…
Firstly, your suggestion that [daughter’s name] volunteered
this information is incorrect. She did not, [daughter’s name] was asked by a
dinner lady of all people. This is unacceptable. There are far more reliable
and credible ways of obtaining such personal information relating to my
family. Just ask the parents. It may have prevented you from writing on such
a minor issue. Thereby, saving us both, this unjustified waste of time.
We have in the past, when the need has arisen, informed the school of all
the relevant information requiring your unequalled devotion and
intervention to our son’s well being. I take a very dim view of this turn
of events and ask you not to involve our children, when soliciting any sort of
information about our family. In other words, ask us, not the children. I
trust it will not be necessary to communicate over such mundane and trivial matters in the future.
The Headmistress at first dismissed the letter as “inaccurate and disrespectful” and when
asked where it was as described escalated the language to include “offensive
and defamatory” and concludes with the words “the School will not engage in further correspondence”.
There is nothing in the correspondence that is inaccurate, disrespectful,
offensive or defamatory except perhaps the implication the the medical staff at
A&E may know more about the seriousness or lack thereof of the forehead scratch than a school teacher.
Yesterday I showed the correspondence to the Deputy Head of a
school in North London (a quiz team member) and she said it was a clear case
for reference to OFSTED as soon as possible.
Index to past blogs.