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Sacked head blames council for lax checks
Mark Blunden3 Jul 2009
THE former headteacher of the school where Boris Johnson sends one of his children spoke for the first time today after being sacked for failing to protect pupils from sex offenders.
In May, Jay Henderson, 35, was fired from Canonbury primary school for gross misconduct after investigators discovered that proper background checks had not been made on staff and that the head himself had watched pornography in his office.
Mr Henderson blames Islington council for the vetting failures and claims many problems were ingrained when he started in 2005.
He claims to have been so stressed working 80 hours a week in his £80,000-a-year job that he became addicted to sleeping pills. He has blasted council bosses over his treatment.
In an email, which Mr Henderson calls an open letter to parents, he writes: "As head, I went through every file when I started and was just so shocked.
"There was nothing in many of them and many staff had no form of check. Very few teachers had a contract. Very few had a police background check."
Mr Henderson, who is appealing against his dismissal, said: "The local authority should be held accountable for its failings in human resources, undoubtedly at Canonbury, and also at other schools."
He makes no mention of the pornography allegations.
Reader views (2)
Another public sector worker on a high salary, that wasn't up to the job, now blames everyone else except himself for his own failings.
Are any of them capable of taking the blame?
- P Staker, London, 07/07/2009 10:28
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Considering CRB checks were introduced in 2002, why didn't the Headmaster arrange to have them carried out when he became aware they hadn't been? At the very least, he should have brought it up with Islington Council once he became aware of it.
Bearing in mind he should have been standing in loco parentis for these children, this demonstrates a total lack of duty of care and, worst of all, commonsense. He's not fit to run a bath let alone a school.
- Sonia M., St Albans, Herts, 03/07/2009 15:19
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