Joshua Sutcliffe has sued an Oxfordshire school and its headmaster in an Employment Tribunal, after accusations of gross misconduct in the situation.
He was suspended and placed in isolation in November for telling students “well done girls” while one of them wanted to be identified as a boy. Sutcliffe has now claimed he had been unfairly dismissed by the school.
According to Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the teacher, the child had self-declared as “male”, but Sutcliffe, had been given no formal instruction on how he was to refer to the pupil.
The charity said when the pupil became irate Sutcliffe sought to diffuse the situation and apologised. However, an investigation began during which Sutcliffe was prevented from teaching.
The week-long investigation found that Sutcliffe “misgendered” the pupil, “demonstrating discriminatory behaviours” and “contravened the school’s equality policy”. The school recommended dealing with the matter of “misconduct” under its disciplinary policy.
Sutliffe’s claim of discrimination also stems from his Bible club at the school being shut down 18 months after it began.
Christian Legal Centre said the club was attended by over 100 pupils in its time, but the head teacher told him that it could not run without a register and a curriculum.
The charity claimed when Sutcliffe produced the required documents, the head still insisted on cancelling the club, whilst at the…
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