A SACKED teacher has accused a Worcester school of lax health and safety standards.
Kathleen Fellows, known as Kate, said Tudor Grange Academy Worcester had dismissed her after she raised concerns that registers of vulnerable pupils were not being taken properly.
She also claimed to have voiced concerns about the vulnerability of a Thai girl who could speak no English and a low ability girl who burned her finger on curling tongs.
Mrs Fellows said she asked for risk assessments to be done and for a teaching assistant to join the class but was ignored.
The school said she was sacked in January, after just one term, because her teaching was unsatisfactory and she was unable to teach the BTEC in hairdressing.
Mrs Fellows, aged 62, of Monnow Close, Droitwich, who is not a qualified teacher, told an employment tribunal she was devastated by the loss of her job.
She claimed the school knew she had no experience of BTECs and no IT skills.
She said she began making a paper register after realising pupils from the gold group, of challenging students, were not registered on Fridays, but was told by her manager not to bother.
She claims she raised her concerns with the school’s headteacher Clare Mac-lean over lunch. Mrs Maclean denies that meeting ever took place.
Colin Barran, representing Tudor Grange, said Mrs Fellows behaved more like an informal tutor than a teacher.
He said she had been sacked because her work was not up to scratch and claimed she had only looked for health and safety issues after she was sacked.
The tribunal continues.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article