Teacher wins £86,000 compensation for bullying

Tuesday, 18 November 2003 12:00 AM

A teacher forced to retire early as a result of a bullying headmistress has been awarded more than £86,000 in damages and legal costs.

Margaret Menzies, 58, who now lives in New Zealand, went on sick leave from her post at Chalgrove Primary School in Barnet, north London in January 2001 with depression.

She was eventually granted early retirement on health grounds the following September.

Ms Menzies said she had been left "anxious and exhausted" by the four years of bullying she endured at the hands of head teacher Valerie Hughes and had been incapable of setting foot in the school.

Judge Brian Knight told Central London County Court: "Staff morale was low and Valerie Hughes was unapproachable, unfair in her dealings with the claimant and rude, aggressive and intimidatory in her dealings with the claimant, some children and parents."

Judge Knight also criticised the local authority's senior primary schools inspector David Burns, who had been informed of what was happening to Ms Menzies, but had failed to treat the matter sufficiently seriously.

Ms Menzies' union, the National Union of Teachers, which backed her fight for compensation, said the verdict in her favour was the first case of its kind and sent a clear message to heads that bullying their staff would not be tolerated.

Ms Menzies said: "I still can't visit a school even though I am no longer teaching. I loved teaching.

"I never imagined this would happen to me. But four years of being treated as useless, of being shouted at and accused of lack of professionalism have taken their toll."

Ms Menzies joined the school in 1988. Ms Hughes was appointed as head teacher in 1997. Within a year, the NUT claims, staff wanting to express their concern about the way she was running the school and treating staff called the union.

By November 2000, only two teachers had been at the school for longer than a term.

A Barnet Borough Council spokesman said: "This award relates to events that took place several years ago and the school has been under a new head teacher since 2001.

"Much progress has been made and the school recently received an Ofsted report which commented favourably on the high quality of its leadership and management."

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