Pontypool deputy head banned from teaching for life (From South Wales Argus)
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Pontypool deputy head banned from teaching for life
11:30am Friday 4th January 2013 in News
A DEPUTY head teacher was given a lifetime ban from the profession after being found guilty of serious professional incompetence.
Wyn Jones Rees who worked at Ysgol Bryn Onnen in Varteg, Pontypool, was handed an indefinite prohibition order, which specifically states he can never apply to the be restored to the Register of Qualified Teachers.
A spokesman for the General Teaching Council for Wales said hearings for incompetence were rare, as were lifetime banning orders, as most teachers could at least re-apply to be reinstalled, even if it was rejected.
A hearing held in Mr Rees’ absence in November proved ten out of 11 allegations of serious failings dating back to June 2010.
These included leaving pupils’ books unmarked for months at a time, failing to carry out weekly planning, failing to monitor pupil progress and not amending pupils’ plans to ensure they were progressing.
He also did not implement, monitor, and evaluate teaching plans, did not develop science and music provision across the school, failed to develop assessments across the school and did not give guidance to staff or run the school competently in the absence of the head teacher.
The panel heard Mr Rees, who was the school’s literacy co-ordinator, also failed to develop performance management targets for some teachers and did not lead and manage staff effectively.
One allegation that he did not keep work areas tidy was not proved because other staff used the same areas.
The panel said: “There is significant risk of Mr Rees repeating these serious failings and we do not consider that a suspension order would be a sufficient protection for pupils, or for maintaining public trust and confidence in the teaching professions.
We therefore decided to impose a prohibition order.
“The allegations we have found proved constitute serious professional incompetence sustained over a period of time, which impacted on pupils and staff.”
Concerns were first raised about the Year 5 and 6 teacher following an inspection by Estyn in June 2010. The hearing heard he was set targets to improve in September 2011, but did not meet them.
He expressed no regret for his actions, offered no apology and provided no testimonials from colleagues in support of him, the panel heard.
Torfaen council said it could not comment on the matter but said Mr Rees left his post voluntarily.
Comments(19)
let em swing
says...
12:17pm Fri 4 Jan 13
Howie'
says...
12:44pm Fri 4 Jan 13
portforever wrote:He was sacked but there is an agreed process to go through culminating in the hearing.
if he was that useless why was he not sacked, why was he given the chance to resign and so keep his pension rights ect again it just shows how the public secter differ from the private. he would have been shown the door many moons ago in the private secter, and rightly so by the looks of it.do teachers ever get the sack for not doing the job they are employed to do...i think not.
I can assure you a lot of employees in the private sector are allowed to retire and take any accumulated benefits rather than just sacking them for a number of various reasons e.g not wanting to involve the Police or not wanting the case ending up in the papers or going to an employment tribunal. Lets not forget the likes of Sir Fred Goodwin who left a £24.1bn hole in RBS's finances but walked away with £3ml lump sum and £700k annual pension.
Sometimes
says...
1:06pm Fri 4 Jan 13
Howie' wrote:The article says he left his post voluntarliy, not the same as being sacked, therefore he keeps his benefits, another example of public sector incompetence being rewarded, see Llantarnham School where we now have two head teachers because the first one couldn't run it properly but still has a job and a six figure salary. Your comment about RBS is a one off and an extreme event, most people in the private sector have nowhere near the chances that Teachers and Police officers have to resign and take up their pensions at a younger age with a pension they can actually live on!
portforever wrote:He was sacked but there is an agreed process to go through culminating in the hearing.
if he was that useless why was he not sacked, why was he given the chance to resign and so keep his pension rights ect again it just shows how the public secter differ from the private. he would have been shown the door many moons ago in the private secter, and rightly so by the looks of it.do teachers ever get the sack for not doing the job they are employed to do...i think not.
I can assure you a lot of employees in the private sector are allowed to retire and take any accumulated benefits rather than just sacking them for a number of various reasons e.g not wanting to involve the Police or not wanting the case ending up in the papers or going to an employment tribunal. Lets not forget the likes of Sir Fred Goodwin who left a £24.1bn hole in RBS's finances but walked away with £3ml lump sum and £700k annual pension.
Howie'
says...
2:20pm Fri 4 Jan 13
Fred certainly was not a one off, there are as many in the private sector as the public who are able to resign rather than be sacked although admittedly in the private sector they are usually higher up the food chain. Can't understand the clamour to take peoples pensions off them, the article does not say how old he is but he could be close to retirement age but you want to take the pension off him that he has contributed to through a lifetime of work and then keep him on benefits for the rest of his days, strange.
portforever
says...
2:58pm Fri 4 Jan 13
welshmum79
says...
3:57pm Fri 4 Jan 13
Will there be any investigation into how this has impacted on them as their education has no doubt suffered or is this case closed?
Howie'
says...
4:11pm Fri 4 Jan 13
www.gtcw.org.uk/
Howie'
says...
4:20pm Fri 4 Jan 13
welshmum79 wrote:I would imagine that the parents of any affected children have been contacted by the School by now.
where does this leave the children who were 'taught' by this person, some I know were in his care for two consecutive class years? This no doubt was at a detriment to them and I should imagine their parents are completely unaware of the extent of the problem - atleast until now.
Will there be any investigation into how this has impacted on them as their education has no doubt suffered or is this case closed?
Robindabank
says...
5:31pm Fri 4 Jan 13
On the inside
says...
5:31pm Fri 4 Jan 13
portforever
says...
5:50pm Fri 4 Jan 13
Howie'
says...
6:34pm Fri 4 Jan 13
On the inside wrote:If you have an occupational pension and you get the sack you may lose your employers contributions to that fund.
What are you lot on. Being dismissed or resigning relates to continued employment not pension entitlement. No one loses pension rights on dismissal or resignation anymore and only a small number of professions ever did (years ago, regulations have changed). Of course they only get credit for the years or amount paid in to the date of termination. Try and keep up.
This case from Thompsons Solicitors:
13th March 2012
Unfairly dismissed council worker recovers pension.
A refuse collector who was unfairly dismissed has recovered his pension at the highest rate available after his employers sacked him and that meant he lost his pension too.
http://www.thompsons
tradeunionlaw.co.uk/
news/unfairly-dismis
sed-council-worker-r
ecovers-pension.htm
portforever
says...
6:42pm Fri 4 Jan 13
On the inside
says...
8:31pm Fri 4 Jan 13
1. My post did make reference to the historic loss of all pension entitlement in some professions, nursing and policing being examples. This practice has long since been abandoned.
2. The council worker recovered his pension only because his employer had broken the law in unfairly dismissing him. It was part of a compensation package in contractural breach not an ongoing right.
3. Well of course your ex employer does not continue to pay into your pension pot once you no longer work for them. Duh!
Facts are such a pain when all you want to do is attack the public sector aren't they. Stick to the good news, this was a case where the checks and balances that are endemic in the public sector and almost wholly absent (banking etc) in the private sector, worked.
Howie'
says...
11:34pm Fri 4 Jan 13
On the inside wrote:'Facts are such a pain when all you want to do is attack the public sector aren't they'.
Do try to keep up.
1. My post did make reference to the historic loss of all pension entitlement in some professions, nursing and policing being examples. This practice has long since been abandoned.
2. The council worker recovered his pension only because his employer had broken the law in unfairly dismissing him. It was part of a compensation package in contractural breach not an ongoing right.
3. Well of course your ex employer does not continue to pay into your pension pot once you no longer work for them. Duh!
Facts are such a pain when all you want to do is attack the public sector aren't they. Stick to the good news, this was a case where the checks and balances that are endemic in the public sector and almost wholly absent (banking etc) in the private sector, worked.
Show me one post where I have attacked the Public Sector? That's right you can't.
'Do try to keep up. 1. My post did make reference to the historic loss of all pension entitlement in some professions, nursing and policing being examples. This practice has long since been abandoned'.
Long abandoned eh? So how come when this Council worker was sacked in May 2010 that the Council took his Pension from him, surely if that practice had been long abandoned they would not have taken his pension off him in the first place. I am pretty sure that Thompsons, whom I have had a massive amount of respect for over the years, would have squeezed the Council for a **** site more than his pension pot if they had acted illegally in taking his pension off him.
'Well of course your ex employer does not continue to pay into your pension pot once you no longer work for them. Duh'!
My fault that one I guess! Let me put it another way.
When an employee is sacked all contributions to their pension fund by both party's are stopped and the employer may or may not take back all funds up to the day of dismissal that the employer has paid in. Hope that clears up any misunderstanding.
The Lymington Pier, Station Master was fired in May 2011 and lost his pension.
http://www.telegraph
.co.uk/comment/colum
nists/jennymccartney
/8514110/Ian-Faletto
-was-fired-with-enth
usiasm-and-then-sack
ed.html
Maybe I have just misinterpreted what you meant by 'long since abandoned'. Guess you meant in the last 18 months.
Just to let you know, it all depends on the employers pension policy as to whether they had the right to claim back funds in the case of dismissal.
Howie'
says...
11:39pm Fri 4 Jan 13
D A M N
Now I shall go and do penance and repent of my sins.
portforever
says...
1:05pm Sat 5 Jan 13
stokey1
says...
8:35pm Sun 6 Jan 13
portforever says...
11:59am Fri 4 Jan 13