The HIllingdon Timeline.... continued

This is the second part of the Timeline for St Mary's School in Hillingdon. If you wish to see the first part it can be found under the HILLINGDON TIMELINE posting dated 14th July.


ST MARY’S TIME LINE part II

Jan 03 After 3 Terms of Mrs Cleugh taking up her Headship at the school 14 members of staff had left. The majority left for reasons which were directly connected with Mrs Cleugh.

Jan 6th Letter to M.P. outlining the lack of confidence and response by Governors, LEA and Diocese.

Jan 13th Letter to Director of Education acknowledging receipt of letter dated 23rd Dec.

Jan 22nd Letter from M.P. concerning visit to St Mary’s.

Feb 03 2 members of staff left – Receptionist, Cleaner.

Apr 03 2 member of staff left - BOTH Nursery Teachers.

July03 5 members of staff left - Deputy Head Teacher, Year 3 Teacher, Year3/4 Teacher. P/T Special Needs Teacher, P/T NNEB Reception.

July 17th Letter from parent to M.P. - Serious concerns about child’s Special Needs provision in school.

July 21st Letter from Director of Education Hillingdon to Teacher referring to letter he received dated June 16th

Sep 03 1 member of staff left – Secretary.

Sept 03 After 5 Terms of Mrs Cleugh taking up her Headship at the school 24 members of staff had left. The majority left for reasons which were directly connected with Mrs Cleugh.

Oct 03 Letter from parent to Mrs Cleugh giving reasons for withdrawing child from school which includes bullying both staff and parents.

Oct 13th Letter from parent to OFSTED requesting an inspector to uncover how Special Needs Children are treated.

Oct 16th letter from Governor listing questions he has been asked to raise at the Annual Parents Meeting in Nov 03.

Nov 18th Letter from former employee to M. P. raising more serious issues - has withdrawn their child from the school.

Nov 19th Letter from former employee to M. P. concerns for staff and Special Needs Children in the school.

Nov 19th Letter from former employee and parent to M.P. ‘ Our health, families and careers were being affected by her constant bulling and harassing tactics on a daily basis.’

Nov 24th Letter from former employee (Teacher) to M.P. expressing concerns about Mrs Cleugh.

Nov 24th Letter from former employee (Teacher) to M.P. stating concerns that ‘no one else suffers the trauma that colleagues have at St. Mary’s’.

Nov 02 Statement from Teacher - Grave concerns - ‘I heard Mrs Cleugh verbally abuse a child’, ‘I would not feel happy leaving any child in the care of Mrs Cleugh.’

Dec 10th Letter from M.P. to parent stating that he had spoken to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor on a one-to-one basis and was referred to Bishop Stack. A meeting was held with him and representatives of Diocese.

Feb 10th Letter from parents to OFSTED - written on behalf of and with support from parents and staff requesting urgent help. ‘Many teachers have confirmed that she singles out children who’s parents have complained, threatening that they will get into more trouble if they tell their parents.’

Feb/Mar 04 Letter from parents and former employees to Director of Education Hillingdon outlining Mrs Cleugh’s regime at St Mary’s since 2002 – at present time several petitions were circulating the school for various reasons.

1. A Vote of No Confidence in Mrs Cleugh.

2. A Petition signed by ex-parents who felt they had no choice but to take their children out of St Mary’s because of Mrs Cleugh.

3. A Letter signed by all year 5 parents (except 3) requesting a meeting with Mrs Cleugh for an explanation as to why a teacher had resigned.

4. Over 15 ex members of staff signed a petition stating that ‘in our opinion we had no choice but to resign our positions due to the intolerable regime inflicted by Mrs CL Cleugh’.

March 9th Letter from parents to E. Strevens - Formal complaint and removal of their special needs child from the school.

By now ALL OF THE ORIGINAL TEACHING STAFF, many of whom were part of the community, had left the school. A number of Governors came and went during this time including THREE Chair of Governors.

Parents would now have no idea of what was really going on in the school.


The Governors, LEA, The Diocese, OFSTED, Local MP and Secretary of State for Education, were all aware of the cries of help from the people in the community of Hillingdon.


A timeline showing the events at St Vincent's will follow shortly...................