A school headteacher has apologised and teachers have faced disciplinary action after a recording of a staff conversation was recovered from a pupil’s phone.
It’s thought the phone already had a recording app running when the device was confiscated from a pupil at Newhouse Academy in Heywood, Greater Manchester.
The three hour and 37 minute recording captured conversations between ‘a small number’ of school staff members during an incident in October, the MEN reports.
A letter signed by headteacher Alex Burnham has been sent out to parents and says the comments made ‘in no way align with our school’s values’.
In the clip, one person appears to say ‘silly b***h’ about a student. A person asks, seemingly about a pupil: ‘Is she a kn**head?’
‘Can be, why?,’ a voice replies. A person appears to say a child was a ‘b***end in class’ in another part of the clip.
The letter from the headteacher said: ‘As a school we believe that we should not only celebrate with you when there is positive news, but we are also open and transparent if there is more difficult information to share.
‘That is why we wanted to notify you about an incident that took place earlier this term where a student’s phone was able to record a private conversation between a small number of staff members after their phone had been confiscated.
‘The content of the discussion that was captured in no way aligns with our school’s values as it included negative comments about several students, as well as references to popular culture that have no place in a school setting.
‘I want to stress that this should not have happened, and we have taken the strongest possible action against those involved.’
A copy of what appears to be the headteacher’s letter, shared on social media, also says that several copies of the audio file have been shared.
Parents were asked not to share them any more widely out of respect for the privacy of children named in the recording.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the academy added: ‘Early in October we became aware that a student had recorded a private conversation between staff after their phone had been confiscated.
‘We expect our community to be a place of integrity and respect. Where those values are not upheld then we will address that fairly, but robustly.
‘The incident was immediately investigated, and, after seeking HR advice, the appropriate disciplinary action was taken against the individuals concerned.
‘We also recognised that there was work needed to rebuild trust with those staff members. Where it was right to do so, we undertook restorative work so that the staff could apologise for their actions.’
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