A Church of England primary school teacher was sacked over allegations of racism after she called pupils in her class ‘chattering monkeys’, a tribunal has heard.
Complaints were made about Charlotte Moore, a Year 6 teacher at Trinity St Mary’s school in Chelmsford, Essex, after she used the remark to try and quieten down her ‘diverse’ class, with angry parents claiming it was a ‘very racist comment’.
However, within days the police closed their investigation as ‘they were satisfied she used the phrase “chattering monkeys” to the entire class and that this had been taken out of context and would not be considered a racial slur or hate crime‘.
There were further allegations that the ‘very strict’ teacher grabbed one pupil by the back of the neck and shook another, while she was also accused of ‘jokingly’ threatening to shoot one of them if they continued to be disruptive.
Pupils were quizzed and said Mrs Moore ‘called us a bunch of monkeys’ and made them ‘scared and anxious’.
Complaints were made against Charlotte Moore, a Year 6 teacher at Trinity St Mary’s (pictured) school in Chelmsford, Essex
Fourteen of the 30 children in her class were interviewed and the concerns were repeated by a number of them, the tribunal heard.
In an interview, Mrs Moore denied all allegations and accepted using the words ‘you are like a bunch of chattering monkeys, quieten down and get on with your work’.
She denied physical assaults and making threats, saying she often makes ‘overly dramatic statements’ to children in a ‘joking way’.
She was fired for gross misconduct. The school found using the word ‘monkey’ was inappropriate as it can be a slur.
Employment Judge Suzanne Palmer dismissed Mrs Moore’s unfair dismissal complaint.
‘[Interviews] raised concerns about children feeling scared of Mrs Moore and scared by the way she expressed herself in the staffroom’, Judge Palmer said.
‘Those were concerns which the [school] felt duty-bound to investigate because of its welfare responsibilities towards the children in its care.
‘I consider that the school was reasonably entitled to take that view.’
On the monkeys comment, the judge said: ‘The [school’s] conclusion on this issue.. was effectively that the matter was serious because of the racial diversity in the class and ‘the pupil and parent perception was that the statement was racist’.
‘However I do not consider that a reasonable employer could have reached a conclusion on the severity of this incident without asking itself the
question of motivation, in other words whether it was simply a clumsy and ill-chosen means of expression with a potential to cause offence.
‘If it was, then in isolation it is difficult to see how a reasonable employer could conclude that this incident taken on its own was sufficient to amount to gross misconduct warranting summary dismissal, which according to [the school] is how it was viewed.
‘[School governor Maureen] Ponton appeared to concede this in cross-examination, saying that she accepted that taken alone this incident might not be sufficiently serious to warrant dismissal for gross misconduct.
‘However, as Mrs Ponton went on to point out, this incident was not the sole incident, and to some degree this may be an academic point.’