In November, 2021, Neil Foden, headteacher at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle
in Penygroes wrote to parents informing that any child with a debt of 2p
would be refused school meals. This caused a national furore with
interventions from Marcus Rashford and blogger Simon Harris (men
behaving dadly)
The headteacher blamed the decision on his council bosses who he claims 'threw him under a bus' -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59341464
"All I did was to pass on the authority's message to parents."
Gwynedd Council blamed "lack of clarity" from its education department on school food debt policy -
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/council-apologises-school-meal-debt-22153658
Councillors
of Gwynedd's Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee challenged the
Head of Education, Garem Jackson, for an explanation. He did not provide
one but promised an update for the next meeting.
Two months later, a video was posted online that appears to show Neil Foden grabbing a pupil by the scruff of the neck -
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/head-teacher-filmed-appearing-grab-22967578
At
the next scrutiny meeting, Mr Jackson failed to answer the committees
previous concerns and was also unwilling to respond to the latest
incident. Once again, promising to get the full facts and return with an
update for councillors.
There is no record of Mr Jackson updating the committee on either incident...
Mr
Foden has a history of controversy. In 2018, a Biology teacher was
awarded £8,000 compensation after an 'outrageous' suspension by the
Ysgol Friars headteacher -
The tribunal was convinced Mr Foden had at one stage been “looking for an excuse to make things difficult for the claimant”.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/biology-teacher-awarded-8000-compensation-14867550
Also -
“We developed a particular view about the evidence given by Mr Foden
which undermined his credibility and/or reliability as a witness.”
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/autocratic-gwynedd-headmaster-included-malpractice-14853841
How is this not perjury?
In 2020, he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the Education Workforce Council.
It was proved that Mr Foden treated a third teacher unfairly when
providing a reference in 2016 in which he said he was facing an
allegation of malpractice when, in fact, the teacher had been cleared.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54300055
The panel heard evidence that included -
"I
felt victimised by Neil Foden due to the way he operated. You were
either in his gang or you were not," person D told the panel. He
claimed he was never interviewed by school governors and that Mr
Foden's daughter had investigated the allegations against him.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51710557
The teacher claimed Mr Foden was looking to "pressurise" him after he
made whistleblowing complaints over erroneous submissions of exam
results by his department boss.
Person D said he made the whistleblowing complaints in 2014 because
pupils had been "awarded an exam pass" and he was initially concerned it
was an "administrative error".
However, he said the
evidence had been moved for the five pupils concerned. "The evidence had
been removed from a computer file. It had taken a year and a quarter
for the exam board to be told."
Person D said he and two other concerned teachers were not interviewed about the exam concerns until "four to six months later".
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/headmaster-victimised-teacher-who-blew-17850450
The
delay in interviewing the teachers will affect any legal process as
there is a very short window to lodge complaints and/or take legal
action. After one year, it is presumed that the exam board would dismiss
any concerns as out of time...
Mr Foden is also Head of Ysgol Friars in Bangor.
Perhaps
the scrutiny committee could remind the Head of Education of his
promise to report on the incidents and also ask for an update on the two
teachers believed to have been suspended on full pay for 9 years...
In 2014, the council's safeguarding team began an investigation alongside north
wales police.. It did not go well. In 2016, the CPS threw out the case
after they did a deep dive of the 'evidence'.
A spokesman for the council said -
"This process concluded with the CPS deciding not to proceed with any
prosecutions. The council is currently carrying out its own subsequent
internal investigation into the matter and as a result the individuals
remain suspended from their posts.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20180729072902/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-councils-paid-9m-staff-14876849
Gwynedd council also paid over £800,000 of public money to north wales police. For what...?
The costs of this case, including the legal fees, must be approaching 2 million pounds - if not more...
An FOI seeking information on the matter was shut down by the monitoring officer who simply ignored the request for an internal review. The next step in the legal process - a complaint to the ICO - usually requires an internal review to have been undertaken. Regardless, the ICO can only 'advise' the council to release information. Gwynedd council have ignored the 'advice' of the ICO in the past...
Questions
to the integrity and professionalism of the safeguarding team remain.
The senior safeguarding officer for Gwynedd has not been seen at a
council meeting since 2019 when he was called out for deceiving the care
scrutiny committee in another case.
Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...
