Headteacher wins unfair dismissal case after being sacked for tapping son’s hand

An experienced primary school headteacher has won more than £100,000 after she was sacked for assault – for tapping her toddler son’s hand.

Shelly-Ann Malabver-Goulbourne was trying to get her three year-old to stop playing with a bottle of hand sanitiser in her office when she used two fingers to attract his attention, an employment tribunal was told.

The incident on Jan 17 2022 was witnessed by the teacher in charge of child safety at the school who accused her of hurting her son and filed an official complaint, which led to the head being suspended and the police called.

Despite the police ruling that her actions were “reasonable chastisement” by a parent, Ms Malabver-Goulbourne, 46, was found by the trust to be guilty of gross misconduct and sacked.

An employment judge concluded there was no evidence that she had committed “physical chastisement or an assault” and ruled her dismissal unfair.

She has now won £102,328 in compensation following her unfair dismissal case.

Ms Malabver-Goulbourne was the head of Northwold primary school, in Hackney, east London, which is run by the Arbor Academy Trust.

The hearing was told she had been a teacher for many years, had joined the trust in 2005 and employed as head since 2017.

“It was around 6.20pm and [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] was packing up her things to go home after having a meeting with Ms Bhagwandas, the designated lead for safeguarding,” the hearing was told.

”[Her] two children who attended the school were in her offices with her, waiting for her to take them home. [Her] youngest child, her son J, who was three years old at the time, was in the room, as was her 11-year-old daughter.

“J took up a bottle of hand sanitiser which was on a table. [Her] daughter told her that he had squirted some to the floor. [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] took the sanitiser out of his hand.”

Employment Judge Julia Jones said: “I find it likely that she then bent down to his level to speak to him about why he should not be playing with hand sanitiser.

“When she did so he turned his face away from her and she tapped him with two fingers on the back of his hand to get his attention, so that he would look at her to hear what she was saying.”

Hand sanitiser

Two weeks earlier, the toddler had got hand sanitiser in his eye, the tribunal was told.

“It was with the knowledge of that earlier experience that [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] wanted to speak to him again to ensure that he understood that hand sanitiser was not a toy that he should be playing with.”

Ms Bhagwandas then told the headteacher that she should not have hurt her son and that she should have spoken to him instead.

Ms Malabver-Goulbourne replied that she had not hurt her son as all she had done was tap him with two fingers to get his attention.

However, Ms Bhagwandas was unhappy with her response and completed a cause for concern form to report a safeguarding incident.

“In it she reported that she had witnessed [Ms Malabver-Goulbourne] smack J on the hand,” the tribunal heard. “She also stated that before doing so, [she] had told J that she was going to smack him and expressed disregard for Ms Bhagwandas’ presence in the office.

“Ms Bhagwandas reported that the child had been crying and that she had pacified him.”

Her complaint led to Ms Malabver-Goulbourne being suspended, a disciplinary investigation launched and the local authority and police being called.

The tribunal was told that neither the council nor the police – who interviewed all of the headteacher’s children – thought further action necessary with officers concluding what she had done was reasonable chastisement.

”[The officer] considered that physical chastisement could be appropriate because the child was in possession of a chemical, which could have caused irritation to his eyes, and he accepted [his mother’s] explanation that her response was to get him out of harm’s way,” the tribunal was told.

However, the trust continued its investigation into whether Ms Malabver-Goulbourne “assaulted a pupil/child whilst in a position of trust and on school premises”.

In May 2022, the trust sacked Ms Malabver-Goulbourne for gross misconduct.

Upholding her claim for unfair dismissal, EJ Jones said: “[The Trust] had sufficient evidence… that she was trying to prevent injury to her child and addressing his behaviour.

“There was no evidence that she had committed physical chastisement or an assault.”