Teacher loses dismissal case over trans pupil row
A Christian teacher who was sacked after accessing a transgender child's safeguarding report and transcribing it to her personal computer has lost an unfair dismissal and religious discrimination claim.
The teacher, who cannot be named and has been referred to as A, refused after being asked by the Nottinghamshire County Council-run school to refer to the child with a male name and pronouns at the parents' request.
She was suspended from her role as a teacher in September 2021 as a row over how she should refer to the child continued.
A year later - after briefly returning to teach at the school - she was sacked after the school discovered she had been accessing the child's private files.
Claims that A had been subjected to detriment for making a protected disclosure, automatic unfair dismissal, ordinary unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, direct religion or belief discrimination, and harassment related to religion or belief were all dismissed by the employment tribunal.
After concerns were first raised by the teacher, Child X was moved to another class in the same year group "to safeguard him from any potential harm", the school said.
The teacher escalated her concerns and her representative wrote to the school saying "it would go against her conscience, informed by her Christian faith, to affirm a young child in their gender dysphoria".
She wrote to the headteacher that she believes "in the truth of the Bible", adding: "Sex is a God-given reality which should not be conflated with 'gender identity'. Being male or female is an immutable biological fact."
After returning to the school following suspension, A repeatedly accessed child X's online safeguarding file on the school's CPOMS system, the hearing was told.
"She was fully aware that her use of [the system] in this manner was unauthorised, and indeed she accepted during cross-examination that her access of the system was wrong," the tribunal ruled.
Acting on behalf of the county council, barrister Ed Beever said A had also "gone behind the back" of the school's designated safeguarding lead to do so.
The teacher wrote a letter to the school in February after accessing child X's reports several times, saying: "Based on the information I have seen and heard, child X is clearly suffering from serious mental health problems."
Employment judge Peter McTigue said in the ruling published on Friday: "In short, A believed that her opinion was correct and that the approach adopted by the school and by child X and their parents was incorrect.
"That was clearly unreasonable as A was not in possession of all relevant information regarding child X at any point in time including, for example, child X's medical information."
Judge McTigue also ruled that transitioning children should have anonymity over their true biological sex "for life" to respect their privacy and ensure their future safety.
In a statement after the ruling, A said she would appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
"I am very disappointed with the judgment," she said. "It misrepresents the facts.
"I ask myself if the courts are afraid of hearing any evidence that socially transitioning young children is harmful."
Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.
Christian teacher 'sacked after pupil pronouns row'
Nottinghamshire County Council
HM Courts & Tribunals Service
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
8 hours ago
- CBS News
Friends, colleagues gather to remember life of Jax Gratton after Denver hairstylist found dead
Amidst tears and warm embraces, Jax Gratton's presence was felt in Denver on Monday morning. "The reach has gone all the way internationally," Brandy Carey, a friend of hers, told CBS Colorado. "That's what she does." The Denver hairstylist, who identified as a transgender woman and was a prominent member of the city's LGBTQ+ community, had been missing for over two months. After a long search, Lakewood police announced on Saturday afternoon that they had found a body that could be Gratton. While the Jefferson County Coroner's Office has yet to identify the body, her family believes it to be her. On Monday afternoon, an impromptu celebration of life and newspress conference was called outside the City and County of Denver Building. In attendance were various community groups and leaders, as well as those who knew Gratton from a variety of places, be it the salon where she worked, the clubs she frequented, or the activist organizations she was a part of. "I think she's still doing that now," Carey said of her friend's ability to connect people. "She's brought so many of us together that didn't know each other." Brandy Carey remembers her friend Jax Gratton at a news conference and memorial in Denver on Monday, June 9, 2025. CBS Along with tearful testimonials of how Gratton impacted their lives, many speakers included a call to action: to fight for and advocate for marginalized communities the way she did. "That's the power of a personality like that," said Z. Williams, who met Gratton through activist circles, "bringing people in to finding their voice." While Williams told CBS News Colorado that much of her social circle is in those places, Gratton had a rare talent for existing in any social setting and making friends everywhere. Her death has galvanized many to take up her causes, as opposed to just focusing on the nature of her passing. "That's not martyrdom or anything like that," Williams explained. "That's just continuing the things that Jax started and ignited in many people." Z. Williams speaks about the community that her late friend Jax Gratton helped cultivate in their activist circles. CBS Statements were read on behalf of Gratton's siblings and parents, while friends and colleagues remembered the joyful moments and memories. "There's so many different funny stories to remember about Jax," said Carey. "So many candid things. And I'll always keep that with me." While the investigation, including the identification of the body in the Coroner's Office and the cause of death, is still underway, the LGBTQ+ community in Denver is taking a moment to remember one of their own. Regardless of how Gratton passed, they say, the lifelong mission of advocating for uplifting marginalized communities in the area lives on in each of them. A memorial for Jax Gratton sits in front of the City and County of Denver building on Monday, June 9, 2025 as friends and colleagues gather at a news conference and memorial for the Denver hairstylist. CBS "Our communities are supposed to gather and come together to make lives better and that's what Jax wanted," Carey said. A GoFundMe has been set up for the family.
New York Times
11 hours ago
- New York Times
Frederick Forsyth, Master of the Geopolitical Thriller, Dies at 86
Frederick Forsyth, who used his early experience as a British foreign correspondent as fodder for a series of swashbuckling, best-selling thrillers in the 1970s, including 'The Day of the Jackal,' 'The Odessa File' and 'The Dogs of War,' died on Monday at his home in Jordans, a village north of London. He was 86. His literary representative, Jonathan Lloyd, did not specify a cause, saying only that the death followed a short illness. Mr. Forsyth was a master of the geopolitical nail-biter, writing novels embedded in an international demimonde populated by spies, mercenaries and political extremists. He wrote 24 books, including 14 novels, and sold more than 75 million copies. Though he set many of his best works during the Cold War of the 1960s and '70s, Mr. Forsyth often chose stories and characters operating apart from the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, in post-colonial conflicts in Africa, for example, or involving Nazi hunters in Europe. His novel 'The Fourth Protocol' (1984), which many critics considered his best, offered a twisting tale of nuclear espionage and radical-left politics in Britain. His books regularly topped the best-seller lists, and many were turned into movies within a few years of their debut. A film version of 'The Day of the Jackal,' starring Michael Lonsdale, appeared in 1973, just two years after the novel's publication; a second movie version, with Bruce Willis and Sidney Poitier, was released in 1997 as 'The Jackal.' (A television series based on the novel, starring Eddie Redmayne, aired last year.) Mr. Forsyth came by his subjects through firsthand experience. Eschewing college after high school, he joined the Royal Air Force, where he flew fighter jets. He then worked as a reporter for Reuters; at one point, he covered the attempted assassination of President Charles de Gaulle of France by far-right militants angry over the country's withdrawal from Algeria. It was an event that he fictionalized to great effect in 'The Day of the Jackal,' which followed, in minute detail, the preparations of an elusive assassin and the French government's efforts to stop him. In 1965, Mr. Forsyth moved to the BBC, where he covered a civil war in Nigeria between the central, dictatorial government and the breakaway state of Biafra. In 2015, he revealed that while in Africa he also worked as an informant for British intelligence. His reporting on Biafra led to two books, the nonfiction 'The Biafran Story' (1969) and 'The Dogs of War' (1974), about a group of mercenaries hired by a shady international consortium to stage a coup against a resources-rich African country. Mr. Forsyth was politically conservative, and supported the Brexit campaign to leave the European Union in 2016. This is a developing story. A complete obituary will follow. Sopan Deb contributed reporting.
Forbes
11 hours ago
- Forbes
Manchester City's New Signings Mark New Era In Pep Guardiola's Tenure
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak vowed the club would be 'aggressive' in this summer window after ending last season empty-handed. So far, City has lived up to al-Mubarak's words and then some. In nine days since the transfer window opened, City has already completed the signings of AC Milan and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for £46.3m ($62.7m) and Wolverhampton left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri for £31m ($42m). A deal for Olympique Lyon attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki, meanwhile, has been all but finalized. As per The Athletic, Cherki will move to England for £33.7m ($45.6m). City must register their new signings by 7pm BST (2pm EST) on Tuesday to have them available for the Club World Cup, which begins next week. The significance of City's spending spree is two-fold. First and foremost, it comes with a verdict into alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules still hanging over the club. In February 2023, City was formally charged with breaking financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018 and with failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations into their finances. The club's hearing in the case against the Premier League began on September 16 last year and ran until December 6 in front of a three-person independent commission in London. Back in February, Pep Guardiola admitted he expected the verdict 'within a month'. His forecast has proved to be wide of the mark, with the commission yet to return a judgment six months after the hearing ended. By comparison, it took UEFA just two days to find City guilty of financial manipulation in January 2020, a verdict which was subsequently overturned on appeal. With a judgment still pending, City has wasted no time in reshaping its squad after spending $245m on players in the January transfer window. Omar Marmoush joined from Eintrach Frankfurt, while Savinho and Nico Gonzalez arrived from Troyes and Porto for respectively and centre-back Abdukodir Kushanov signed from Lens. The spending spree was not enough to prevent City from finishing without any silverware for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Guardiola's first campaign in the Premier League. City has won the Premier League six times in the past eight seasons, but finished third 13 points behind eventual champions Liverpool last season and never looked like retaining its crown. The Champions League brought an elimination at the hands of Real Madrid in the Round of 16 and there was heartbreak in the FA Cup final for the second consecutive year with defeat to Cyrstal Palace. In that respect, the arrivals of Reijnders, Aït-Nouri and Chekri point to a clear desire to refresh the squad. Despite the $67.8m arrival of Gonzalez from Porto in January, City's midfield lack of physicality and running power was badly exposed both domestically and in Europe. The issue was exacerbated by the absences of reigning Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, who missed almost the entire season with a knee injury, and Mateo Kovacic. Reijnders' arrival should go some way towards addressing the lack of dynamism in City's engine room. The Dutch international was arguably AC Milan's player of the season, with 10 goals and four assists in Serie A. Among midfielders, only Scott McTominay, had more goal involvements with 16. City's new signing, who turns 27 next month, also ranked fifth for through balls and ninth for forward passes in Serie A last season. Milan signed Reijnders from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023 for $22.8m, but he netted only four goals in 50 appearances across all competitions – a figure that should have been much higher. When he met him in Saudi Arabia in January for the Italian Super Cup, former Milan manager Stefano Pioli teased him about his frequent shots off target. Twelve months on, Reijnders found the same promising positions but now with newfound composure, leading to a significant increase in his goal tally. His shots on target more than tripled last season (from 0.25 to 0.87 per match), while his conversion rate more than doubled, soaring from 10% to 23%. With Kevin De Bruyne leaving the Etihad Stadium as a free agent after 10 trophy-laden years and Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva approaching the winter of their careers, Reijnders could become a key figure in City's midfield. Just like the Dutchman, Aït-Nouri's arrival addresses a glaring weakness in Guardiola's squad. According to Opta stats, in the season just ended among defenders only Trent Alexander Arnold had more goal involvements per 90 minutes than Aït-Nouri, with 0.34 to 0.32 respectively. The prototypical modern full-back, who can use his athleticism to burst forward and is comfortable with the ball at his feet, the Algeria international is a versatile player. Aït-Nouri played at left wing-back under Vitor Pereira following the Portuguese's arrival at Wolves in December. Pereira switched between a five-man defense and a 3-4-3 formation, with the 24-year-old operating as an attacking wing-back in both circumstances. The Algeria international played in the same role under Gary O'Neill, Pereira's predecessor, when he was also deployed further forward as a left midfielder. But of the trio of signings, it is arguably Cherki who is the most intriguing. The 21-year-old is coming off a breakout season, with 12 goals and 20 assists in all competitions and made his France debut last week, scoring in the 5-4 defeat against Spain in the Nations League semi-final. Cherki also scored in both legs of the Europa League quarter-final against Manchester United and was named in the Europa League Team of the Season. Data from Opta shows he outperformed City's attacking midfielders - Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Savinho - in all but one category last season, shots per 90 minutes. Cherki and Doku both took 2.2 shots per game, while Savinho and Foden took 2.8 and 3.0 respectively. The Frenchman, however, led the quartet in goals per 90 minutes with a 0.4 figure, compared to Foden and Doku's 0.3 and Savinho's 0.1. Cherki's 0.6 assists per game were the high watermark in the category, when compared with Doku's 0.4, Savinho's 0.3 and Foden's 0.2 and he was also significant better in terms of creating opportunities. The Lyon midfielder set up 3.7 chances per 90 minutes, comfortably ahead of Savinho and Foden with 2.3 and Doku with 2.1. A versatile player who can operate either as attacking midfielder or on the wing, Cherki is gifted with superb technique and looks ready to fill the void left by De Bruyne. Former Arsenal striker and current CBS analyst Thierry Henry said he has "never seen a player in history who dribbles as quickly as him". High praise indeed. The Premier League has been warned.
