Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor
Bishop George Stack, Chair of the Diocesan Education Committee
Paul Barber, Director of Education, Diocesan Schools’ Commissioner
Ann Blyth, Chair of Governors, St Vincent’s School Acton
Governing Body St Vincent’s School Acton
Cc Rachel Black, Director of Education, Ealing LEA
Cc Andrew Slaughter, MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush
Cc John Randall, MP for Hillingdon
5 July 2007
Your Eminence, Your Grace, Sirs and Ladies,
By now you will all, hopefully, have had an opportunity to reflect on the letter dated 25 June 2007 concerning Mrs Cleugh and her tenure as head teacher at the three primary schools, St Joseph’s, St Mary’s and St Vincent’s.
The accompanying Appendices should have come as no surprise to some of you, but perhaps for others this was the first time you gained an insight into the extent of the devastation wrought. It makes stunning reading indeed.
To those of you representing the Diocese of Westminster, we hope you are asking yourself why you ignored cries for help from so many levels over the years? Why did you ignore pleas from a parish priest, staff, parents, Members of Parliament and union representatives?
To those of you holding seats on the Board of Governors at St Vincent’s, we hope you are asking yourself whether you have been misled by the diocese and Mrs Cleugh and whether you are still able to support the leadership of Mrs Cleugh now you have been made aware of some of the complaints brought against her?
You have collectively failed in your responsibilities as employers of staff and carers of children by allowing a culture of bullying and harassment to spring up and flourish under Mrs Cleugh’s leadership at St Vincent’s. It appears you have failed the people you are committed to protect, i.e staff and children.No doubt you are aware that under ‘the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974’ (specifically Clause 2 ‘General Duties of Employers to their Employees’), as well as ‘Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999’(specifically
points 1-10 and 15) provisions have been made to avoid and safeguard against such practices in the workplace. Please read the attached Appendix for an insight into the situation at St Vincent’s, which focuses in particular on the emotional havoc wreaked by Mrs Cleugh’s bullying, and on the tarnish to the reputation of Catholic education.
We, therefore, ask you again to take the following actions:
- The immediate suspension of Mrs Cleugh from the school pending a full inquiry into the many issues that have been raised by her conduct concluding in a full and detailed response.
- The use of psychometric evaluations, rigorous checking of references, and fuller background checks on all management appointments to schools in the Diocese of Westminster to ensure that bullying behaviour such as that shown by Mrs Christina Cleugh is never inflicted on a Catholic school community again.
- The governors of St Vincent’s School should seriously consider their positions given their collective failure to address this problem.
If it is your intention not to respond to either this letter or the letter dated 25 June, both of which are (regrettably) anonymous, we would consider it gracious of you to at least inform us. No response from you at all would mean that the only option left to us will be to make our case public.Please respond to these requests by Friday 13th July to [removed by the editor].
Yours sincerely,
Very concerned members of the Community of St Vincent’s School.
Additional material that accompanied this letter has been added as comments.
6 comments:
APPENDIX
Below are points we would like all of you to consider in view of the responsibility that you have and the gravity of the situation we now all find ourselves in;
• Health & Safety Executive
This is the Governors’ responsibility. But who has been damaged?
Staff:
1. Those who have chosen to bring formal complaints against Mrs Cleugh have encountered gross mismanagement of grievance processes and a failure to carry out the duty of care required from the governing body for those members of staff.
2. Some have suffered breakdowns.
3. Many still suffer nightmares after having worked under Mrs Cleugh.
• Catholic education
Its reputation has been tarnished; can we trust the people at the helm? As many as 60 staff from the above-mentioned schools have left Catholic education; many have no wish to ever return to the Catholic Education Service after their experiences of working with Mrs Cleugh.
• Head teacher’s conduct (a selection);
Lies in public meetings -
1. Given to Diocesan Education Officer Mr M Pittendreigh for delivery to parents on 26 April 2007 concerning families who had left the school since Mrs Cleugh’s arrival. Governors are aware of the circumstances under which these families left.
2. From the head teacher to parents and governors on 10 May 2007 regarding the school website.
3. Lies about staff’s capabilities to OFSTED, the LEA and to parents.
4. Character assassinations on teachers, pupils and parents when they seemed to have incurred her wrath.
5. Lies about many aspects of the organisation of the school.
• Impact on pupils
1. St Vincent’s kids sense Mrs Cleugh’s mood; commonplace remarks include ‘I am glad she doesn’t know my name’/’Best to keep your head down when she is around’/’I don’t think Mrs Cleugh likes children’/’We’re not allowed to cheer when something good happens, but I cheer in my mind!’. This is particularly prevalent amongst Keystage 2 pupils.
2. Fear of ‘random’ telling off.
3. Excessive use of shouting at children.
4. Threats of expulsions / exclusions without warnings, and without parents’ knowledge, indeed without any prior LEA involvement.
Here is an example for you; Mrs Cleugh during an assembly last academic year threatened a number of children with exclusion – they were told ‘to shape up or ship out’. Ten families contacted the Governing Body and registered their profound concern about this. The matter was never dealt with.
5. Lack of adequate provision for children with Special Educational Needs.
6. Almost total lack of praise and encouragement, even when handing out ‘good behaviour’ certificates.
7. Some pupils have nightmares about Mrs Cleugh.
8. Many children have left St Vincent’s and have not continued in Catholic education.
• Impact on parents
1. Fear – where Mrs Cleugh has used behavioural policies inappropriately against children and parents have been left confused and terrified of retribution.
2. Lack of dialogue with teachers – it is clear teachers have been discouraged from talking to parents, especially regarding concerns they may have.
3. Destroyed community spirit – the partnership of trust between parents and the school has vanished.
4. Removal of children – the vast majority of families who left, felt they had no other choice but to remove their children from St Vincent’s because of Mrs Cleugh’s behaviour.
5. PFA – the Parents and Friends Association has been criticised unjustly and repeatedly by Mrs Cleugh.
6. Community reduced to an institution – the state of play at the end of 18 months of Mrs Cleugh as head teacher at St Vincent’s.
Concluding remarks –
o Teachers have left in large numbers and continue to leave.
• Parents are concerned about the staff turnover.
• Governors do not communicate in any way with parents about staff turnover and vacancies on the board of governors.
• The school website is now defunct and therefore unable to inform parents about policies concerning admissions, complaints etc., let alone any other information which should be disseminated to parents and others.
• Damage to the local community has been vast; a school community full of mistrust and fear, as well as two parish communities where many people eye each other up with suspicion. Some children have been profoundly affected by Mrs Cleugh’s treatment of them, especially those children who are more vulnerable than others.
Rebuilding trust in our school and parish communities will take a long time, even when Mrs Cleugh may have long gone. For many of us this begs the question ‘what sort of Christian witness has this been?’ Other churches in the vicinity are aware of problems at St Vincent’s and the local Catholic churches; it may hearten you to learn that they are praying for us. This also means that they are watching to see the answers to their prayers.
Reiterating the letter of 25 June 2007, teachers and parents are unlikely to present you with concerns given your total lack of meaningful action and response to concerns presented to you about Mrs Cleugh in the past. As a result of that, the trust between the diocese, the governing body and the parents is largely gone. We are waiting for you to finally act and ‘do the right thing’.
rightly anonymous...
I am one of the many "very concerned members of the St Vincents Community" who helped to shape this second letter, and the first one. You may imagine the sleepless nights and stress that this has caused in our lives. We do not want to go to these lengths to get our case heard, but we are being ignored. We will continue until there is a satisfactory outcome.
I am one of the many parents who have grave concerns about the situation at our school, but as I have only been part of the St Vincent's community for a short time, have little firm evidence to back up these concerns.
I am so so glad that you have collected this horrifying list of misdemeanours in such a constructive and organised fashion. I am truly dumbstruck that this woman is allowed anywhere near children in the face of so much evidence against her.
Sadly, she obviously has some friends in very high places, so I suspect that this catalogue of atrocities will indeed have to become public before any action is taken; I also have a horrible feeling that if this occurs, it is very likely that all sorts of other things will come to light - the bishops must have some reason for covering up Cleugh's behaviour...
Cathy wants to mention:
Hi everyone,
I happened to meet a School Governor yesterday on a social level. He said to me that he strongly advises that we request under 'Freedom of Information' all documentation and records from the LEA concerning St. Vincents school. He said that the Diocese are protected from FOI(as a religous body) but we should still be able to receive documents about what has been said and action taken concerning St. Vincent's School. Has this already been done?
Complaints Procedures in Schools - September 2003
Taken from Diocese of Westminster website
No-one likes criticism but an open organisation will always be willing to listen to concerns and anxieties and be ready to learn from them if appropriate. In a school, most concerns are likely to be expressed by parents of its pupils, though some may come from pupils themselves, parishioners, or from other interested parties such as neighbours or users of the premises.
In a Catholic school, parental concerns are of particular importance. As the first educators of their children, parents have a duty to take an active interest in their school. “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring.” (Gravissimum Educationis). To this end, “there must be the closest co-operation between parents and the teachers to whom they entrust their children to be educated. In fulfilling their task, teachers are to collaborate closely with the parents and willingly listen to them.” (Can.796) In a Catholic School, therefore, dealing with parental concerns will be an intrinsic part of the school’s ethos and mission. In addition, terms of reference for governing bodies now include the legal obligation to “be open about the decisions they make and the actions they take and in particular ........ to explain their decisions and actions to interested parties”. (The Education (School Government) (Terms of Reference) (England) Regulations 2000). Thus a climate of openness and partnership is essential.
Nearly all concerns or questions can be resolved very quickly and informally if parents feel able to voice them as soon as they arise. Obviously, the more information the school gives to the parents the less scope there is for misunderstanding. As part of this information, parents could be told that feedback is always welcome and that, therefore, they are warmly encouraged to voice any concerns straightaway, preferably to the person concerned. In most cases, discussion, explanation, further information – or an apology if appropriate – will resolve the issue. Every effort should be made to allay concerns at this level and with the least possible formality. The ideal is that no concern should ever become a formal complaint.
Occasionally, however, a concern will be too serious to be handled in this way, perhaps needing greater investigation; or the person concerned may not feel that the answers given so far have been acceptable or adequate. In such circumstances, the concern will become a complaint and the formal procedure should be followed. Even in these cases, every effort should be made to resolve the issue at the lowest possible level of the procedure. It should be very rare indeed that a complaint needs to be decided at the Appeal Stage by a Governors’ Committee.
What do we do about St Vincent’s? Let’s go to the top!
Alas we are not discussing the change in management at the local cricket club, or Sven Goran Erikson’s tactics with the England football team. We are Catholic Christians concerned about the future of our Parish, our School and our relationships with one another.
It seems that some appeals to those in authority higher up have nor produced satisfactory results. Some have written to the MP, the director of Education and even the Cardinal. Before we go to the Sun, Gordon Brown and Benedict XVI, I suggest a shortcut. Let’s go straight to the top!
We can spend the next few weeks “storming heaven”. Let’s get on our knees and pray seriously for everyone involved in this situation. That means praying for the children, the teachers, the school management team and the governors. It means praying for the education authorities, Catholic and secular, and all those who have got an interest in this situation.
It must be pointed out, however, that we do pray in the Our Father, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus tells us that unless we forgive, we will not be forgiven. For some people involved in this matter, this will be really hard. For them, the rest of us have to pray. In time, they will be able to pray for “the other side”.
There is no question that Satan is the enemy of unity and cooperation. He wants to harden our hearts and bring disaster on all those who know and love Jesus Christ. We need to remember that this is potentially much bigger than a quarrel about a school.
Those among us who want to follow this course of action could start by receiving the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) as soon as possible, and then praying that God sort this out. We all need to remember the parable about the speck in the eye and the beam in the other eye. (Luke 6, 41)
Probably quite few of you have been doing this all along, but this is an encouragement to the rest of us to join in.
Michael Thompson
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