Plymouth schools chief executive banned for bullying

ACE Schools Multi Academy Trust specialises in teaching children with special educational needs

The chief executive of an academy for special needs pupils has been banned from teaching for bullying staff.

A panel heard Sarah Gillett, former boss of ACE Schools Multi Academy Trust in Plymouth, was described by staff as "vicious", "venomous" and "threatening".

The conduct panel found she lied about a qualification and was "guilty of unacceptable professional conduct".

The Teaching Regulation Agency banned her from teaching indefinitely.

The panel found Ms Gillett, 48, "engineered" the redundancy of a member of staff in retaliation for a grievance he had raised about her in summer 2016.

It found she had "not demonstrated any insight into her conduct" and there was "limited remorse".

The Plymouth-based Trust, which has schools in Devon and Cornwall, specialises in teaching children aged four to 16 with special educational needs.

It also offers alternative provision for children who have been excluded from mainstream schools.

The "trigger" for staff escalating concerns was a staff meeting in March 2019 following an Ofsted inspection which had rated the Trust "good" overall and "outstanding" in parts.

The panel heard Ms Gillett, who had taken up her post in July 2016, told staff they had let ACE down and were wasting tax-payers money.

She said there was no room in the school for staff who were not performing and that she needed to get rid of people if they were not good enough.

She said to the whole body of staff "I love ya, but I am coming for ya" or words to that effect, in what she claimed was a quote from a Turkish film.

'Stinker'

The panel heard she used an expletive to tell a meeting of senior leaders they could leave the job if they did not like it.

Ms Gillett had a propensity to send "stinger" or "stinker" emails berating staff, according to the evidence heard.

The conduct panel said her behaviour towards staff constituted bullying.

It said: "Staff felt inhibited from raising any concerns either informally or through the whistleblowing policy and/or grievance polices which in turn may create a serious risk that safeguarding issues are not raised by staff."

'Misleading information'

The panel also said she "lacked integrity" by incorrectly saying she had a master's degree in education.

It found Ms Gillett "was aware that she did not hold a master's degree in education, that she knew that her CV incorrectly stated that she did hold such a qualification and she also knew that misleading information had been placed on the Trust's website and communicated to the Department of Education".

Ms Gillett was suspended from her position as CEO in May 2019 and left the Trust in July 2019 "by way of mutual agreement, prior to any disciplinary hearing taking place".

The ban means that Ms Gillett is "prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England".

The panel also heard allegations of favouritism and nepotism but did not find those allegations proven.

The Trust has been asked to comment.

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