Parents demand to know what is going on at failing special school (From Sutton Guardian)

Parents demand to know what is going on at failing Carew Manor School

7:30am Friday 19th October 2012 in News By James Pepper

Parents demand to know what is going on at failing Carew Manor School

Parents are calling for more transparency about the absence of a headteacher from a struggling school amid allegations he has been suspended.

At the start of the school year, parents were sent a letter saying the headteacher of Carew Manor School, Robbie Devlin, was not going to be at work for the first four to six weeks of term, with no other explanation.

A number of sources have said the headteacher has been suspended following allegations of bullying from other teachers, but Sutton Council has continuously refused to confirm or deny this.

Since Mr Devlin was brought into the Wallington school as trouble shooter in March, it is understood a large number of teachers and three teaching assistants have left the school.

The school, which was given a Notice to Improve following a scathing Ofsted report, is a special needs school which has 144 pupils.

Parents are now demanding to know what is going on.

Nicky Merrett, whose nine-year-old so Kai has downs syndrome, said they way they were being treated was disgusting.

She said: "I have four children and I have never been kept in the dark by a school so much in my entire life. It is shocking. For all we know, aliens have come in and taken Mr Devlin away."

"Everyone knows he has been suspended, but the school are saying nothing. The measures he brought in to improve the school are being implemented, so either he is wrong, or he is right."

Andrew Theobold, who sits on the children, family and education committee at Sutton Council, where educational matters are discussed, has called for more transparency.

He said: "Our committee is directly responsible for all the schools in the borough and we should know about this kind of thing. But we don't. This tells you something about the way things are going at Sutton Council. The councillors are doing this and it is embarrassing."

A council spokesman said: "Sutton Council is unable to add anything to the statement we issued previously."

That previous statement said: "The headteacher at Carew Manor is currently absent from work. This is unconnected to the recent Ofsted inspection at the school.

"The reason for the absence of any member of staff in any school is a confidential matter between the individual and the governing body."