School chaplain's LGBT sermon angered teachers, tribunal hears

Rev Bernard Randall claims he was unfairly dismissed by Trent College

A school chaplain's sermon on sexuality triggered "vehement" complaints, a tribunal has heard.

Rev Bernard Randall told pupils they did not have to "accept the ideas of LGBT activists" during chapel services.

He was later made redundant from his role but claims he was discriminated against and unfairly dismissed.

His employment tribunal has been told his words angered teaching colleagues and distressed some pupils who heard them.

The tribunal has heard Rev Randall delivered a sermon, entitled Competing Ideologies, to pupils at Trent College, in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, twice in June 2019.

It heard he was concerned about some elements of an LGBT inclusivity programme the fee-paying boarding school was introducing.

After the sermons, senior staff launched disciplinary action against Rev Randall and he was later made redundant.

Rev Randall said he opposed parts of the programme, devised by charity Educate and Celebrate, which he believed were "Marxist and atheist" and contrary to Christian values.

Trent College in Long Eaton, Derbyshire

Jeremy Hallows, the school's deputy head teacher pastoral and Rev Randall's line manager at the time, told the hearing in Nottingham he had received written complaints from both teachers and pupils about Rev Randall's message.

Mr Hallows told the tribunal he had raised the concerns with the chaplain, but said Rev Randall had been dismissive of them.

He said: "The volume of complaints was unlike anything I had seen before."

The deputy head teacher said he was concerned about the emotional impact the sermons would have on pupils and colleagues, so he raised this with Rev Randall.

Mr Hallows said: "The claimant [Rev Randall] did not wish to address the distress his sermon had caused."

Richard O'Dair, representing Rev Randall, said there were only two complaints from about 300 pupils who heard the sermon.

'Staff nearly in tears'

Mr Hallows said: "The feedback was all very one-way.

"Nobody was coming forward with any kind of support for the sermon."

He told the tribunal the term "LGBT stuff", used by Rev Randall, was pejorative.

Mr Hallows said he felt a sermon to pupils was not the appropriate forum to address the issues Rev Randall had with Educate and Celebrate.

He also said the complaints he later received from the school community had "unprecedented vehemence".

He added: "One member of staff was nearly in tears as a result of the chapel sermon. Staff were angry and concerned about the welfare of the student community."

The tribunal has been told Rev Randall was suspended then dismissed but reinstated on appeal.

He was then furloughed during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown before being made redundant later in the year.

He claims the disciplinary process launched against him after the sermons, in which he said he was upholding British values and the school's Christian ethos, was discriminatory.

The tribunal continues.