Head Teacher Sacked For Disciplining Her Child Granted £100k

A primary school head teacher who was fired for ‘violence’ after tapping her toddler’s hand as he was playing with a bottle of hand sanitizer has received more than £100,000 in compensation.

Shelly-Ann Malabver-Goulbourne used two fingers to attract her three-year-old son’s attention while trying to keep him from playing with hand gel in her office at a London primary school.

Malabver-Goulbourne was the head of Northwold Primary School in Hackney, East London.

The interaction was witnessed by the school’s safeguarding official, who submitted an official complaint, which resulted in Ms Malabver-Goulbourne’s suspension and the call to the police.

However, despite police officers finding it’reasonable punishment’ by a parent, the 46-year-old was fired after being found guilty of gross misconduct.

An employment judge evaluated Ms Malabver-Goulbourne’s firing unjust and granted her £102,328 in compensation.

She has been a teacher for’many years’, joining the trust in 2005 and serving as head since 2017. The event with her child occurred on January 17, 2022, while she was working late in her workplace.

While packing her belongings after a meeting with the safety lead, her 11-year-old daughter informed her that her younger brother had poured sanitiser on the floor.

After taking the bottle from him, Employment Judge, Julia Jones said, the head teacher likely “bent down to his level to speak to him about why he should not be playing with hand sanitiser.”

She added: “When she did so he turned his face away from her and she tapped him with two fingers on the back of his hand to get his attention so that he would look at her to hear what she was saying.”

The tribunal heard how the kid had put hand sanitizer in his eye two weeks before.

“It was with the knowledge of that earlier experience that she wanted to speak to him again to ensure that he understood that hand sanitiser was not a toy that he should be playing with,” the judge said.

The safeguarding lead accused her of abusing her child and compared the situation to corporal punishment.

Ms Malabver-Goulbourne defended herself, arguing that her actions were intended to grab her son’s attention rather than to damage him.

The panel was told: “She described this action as meaning, “Look at me when I am talking to you, focus on me and what I am saying” as he looked away when she was talking to him.

“[She said] that her son had not cried from her tapping the top of his hand, he started whining because she took the bottle away from him. She had not done it in anger or as a punishment.

“She tapped him on the top of his hand to get his attention to explain to him the danger of playing with hand sanitiser as she was worried about what could happen to him. She was clear that she had not smacked him.”

Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was fired by the trust in May 2022 due to excessive misconduct.

“The Trust expressly forbids any physical chastisement or contact of any kind,’ she was told.

“Therefore, whether a tap or otherwise, this was unnecessary physical contact with a pupil, which constitutes an assault, and therefore a breach of policies and statutory guidance.”

However, the judge stated in his conclusion that the school’s code of conduct did not forbid all physical contact between students and instructors, and that as a parent, the head teacher would find it difficult to follow that regulation.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli