Be Prepared

I was not prepared for what happened - such things only happen to others ! Good advice - ‘be prepared’.

Get a copy of your school’s disciplinary procedures today; read, digest and memorize.

Handling Allegations of Abuse Against Staff

• Remember that at any meeting with your head teacher, you are legally entitled to be accompanied by a friend / colleague / union representative.
  
  
• Learn from your car insurance documents. Admit nothing and say nothing - that is the role of your union representative.

My head teacher denied me any right to be accompanied. He later took advantage of the fact that there was no witness as it enabled him to add words that were never spoken.

Be wary of support from ‘colleagues’ - say nothing and leave site as soon as you are able. My ‘friends’ betrayed me - whilst in hysterics in the car park awaiting my partner, fellow teachers comforted me and at the same time noted my incoherent ramblings that were later used in evidence.

Later, by letter, you will be advised not to make contact with any of your colleagues. This is good advice - at the moment that you are suspended, your friends might betray your confidences.

More of the nightmare ... friendships that might span many years are destroyed. You are alone in the cold !