Ross-on-Wye teacher unfairly dismissed over grades

Joanne Lucas was sacked from John Kyrle High School in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, in 2017

A drama teacher who was unfairly dismissed said it had been "soul destroying".

In March 2017, Joanne Lucas was sacked from John Kyrle High School in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, over disappointing grades amounting to "gross misconduct".

However a tribunal in Birmingham found her dismissal was mainly motivated by "animus" towards her trade union role.

The school acknowledged "there are lessons to be learned" but insisted there was not a "systemic problem".

Mrs Lucas was hired at the school in 2015, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported, however the following year her students' grades had slipped as she was suffering from undiagnosed health problems which the school was aware of but did nothing to support, the tribunal heard.

She was dismissed after governors said she had "wilfully neglected her duties by failing to prepare students adequately".

Mrs Lucas accepted the GCSE, AS and A2 level exam results were disappointing, but said these were "sham reasons". The tribunal found in her favour in a report published on 4 November.

A letter, sent from headmaster Nigel Griffiths to Mrs Lucas' home address in July 2016, was "designed to intimidate the claimant in the performance of her trade union activities", the tribunal panel found, adding the head was "losing patience" with union activities prior to the dismissal.

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Mrs Lucas said she felt numb but relieved with the tribunal's outcome.

"It's not joyous," she said. "It's soul destroying.

"Twenty-eight years of being a teacher and then suddenly you are not. And you have accusations made which rock the core of your belief in humanity."

Chair of governors at the school, Denise Strutt, said they were "deeply saddened the tribunal concluded the actions taken against [Mrs Lucas] were not conducted in a way that reflects the ethos and values of our school".