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Parents have vowed their children will not return to a school until a principal suspended following an inspector’s report is removed from her post.
The return of Dr Annabel Scott to her post as principal of Crumlin Integrated College in Co Antrim yesterday prompted a protest by parents at the school’s gates.
Dr Scott was suspended two years ago after an inspectors’ report cited ‘unsatisfactory leadership and management’ at the school.
The report — revealed exclusively in the Belfast Telegraph — also identified ‘serious shortcomings in the quality of pastoral care’ and ‘generally poor standards achieved by pupils’, concluding that the quality of education at the school was ‘unsatisfactory’.
Inspectors with the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) pledged to monitor and report on the school’s progress in addressing the issues.
Sylvia Darragh — whose 15-year-old child is studying for her GCSEs at the school — said: “The issue we had was the timing of this, right in the middle of GCSEs. We did not find out until the children came home on Friday”.
Ms Darragh claimed she was one of around 100 parents who took part in yesterday’s protest.
She said: “Over the last two years the progress at the school has been amazing. The children will go to the teachers when they are in trouble and the school has completely opened up to the community. I know a lot of the parents are saying that they are going to remove their children from the school as long as Dr Scott is principal.”
The North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB) has said that while it acknowledges this is a challenging time for the staff and school community, the Board of Governors is endeavouring ‘to meet their legal requirements’. Another ETI inspection is due to take place in the autumn.
Education and Training Inspectorate (the body which carried out the original inspection), which is expected to take place in the autumn.
Background
An inspection of Crumlin Integrated College in January 2010 led to the suspension of the school’s principal, Dr Annabel Scott. An Education and Training Inspectorate report in February 2010 cited a series of concerns around management of the school and the quality of pastoral care provided.
