…yr doin it wrong:
A primary school teacher who specialises in helping aggressive children has been sacked for punching a female colleague in the face.
Did she put the red crayons in the blue crayon container? Or fail to stow away the chairs safely?
Phillipa Heath-Philpotts was involved in a late-night street brawl with fellow teachers after a high-spirited work party.
Ah. ‘High spirited’ in this instance being code for ‘booze-fuelled brawl’…
Heath-Philpotts claimed she was unfairly sacked because colleagues started the fight and left her with no choice but to lash out.
Or to stop drinking with colleagues who behave like animals.
A passing pedestrian saw the teachers fighting and called police, Central London Employment Tribunal heard.
However, the officers simply advised them to calm down and when the police left, the argument continued.
Happily, the school authorities took a dim view of this behaviour.
Both Heath-Philpotts and Miss Hearn were suspended after the brawl and the pair were subsequently sacked. Heath-Philpotts's claim that she was unfairly dismissed was rejected by the tribunal last week.
Mick Farrant, chairman of the school's governing board, told the panel that Heath-Philpotts had to go because the fight 'risked sending the wrong message about Carlton'.
He said it was 'difficult to believe' her claim of self-defence, adding: 'She could have left the area at any point before things got out of hand.'
Indeed.
Before she was sacked, Heath-Philpotts had mentored demanding children at the school for eight years. She has not worked as a learning mentor since the brawl.
Numerous character witnesses had testified to her good character and high professional standards.
She is a member of a meditation group which practises a technique based on the teachings of an Indian mystic called Osho.
But a night spent cross-legged intoning ‘Ommmmmmmm’ paled before the delights of a drink and a scrap, obviously…
On the group's website Heath-Philpotts writes: 'I am seeking emotional wellness and spiritual awakening. Meditation is the answer.'
So is choosing your drinking companions a little more carefully in future!
4 comments:
oCombining meditation with anger management and career development classes should do the trick.
Ah, not a teacher, a "learning mentor" (ie made-up job, with no minimum academic entry requirements). That's another reason why I almost burst an O-ring every time somebody criticises us homeschooling parents on the grounds that we're not "real teachers" - they really don't have a clue what's going on in their own kids' schools.
Osho = Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Check Wikipedia. He liked Rolls-Royces.
"Ah, not a teacher, a "learning mentor" (ie made-up job, with no minimum academic entry requirements). "
And, no doubt, on a pretty good whack, too. Until she took one...
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