Uplands head defends himself

A head teacher whose colleagues are demanding his resignation has defended himself via the school newsletter.

Employees at Uplands Junior, in Highfields, have called on education leaders at Leicester City Council to request the resignation of principal, Tim Luckcock, and chairman of governors, Abid Matak, due to an "irretrievable breakdown in the relationship with staff".

Despite the school having a good Ofsted rating, the grievance makes claims about Mr Luckcock's management style, frequent and "unexplained" absences, lack of communication between staff, parents and children and a decision to axe up to 10 teaching assistant posts by the end of this summer term, among others.

Parents have also separately raised concerns about some posts by Mr Luckcock on Facebook, which were accompanied by a picture of him apparently wearing a turban, including one in which he stated: "Nearly gone native in Leicester."

One parent told the Mercury he thought Mr Luckcock's comments "offended all religions and faiths".

Staff have told the Leicester Mercury that Mr Luckcock, along with some members of the governing body, personally handed school newsletters to parents outside the school on Tuesday.

In the newsletter, Mr Luckcock stated there had been "intrusion into his private life" and that he had been "misrepresented by the media", and wanted to give "an honest explanation about the Facebook photo".

He stated that the turban was placed on his head during a Diwali celebration by another teacher who took the photograph.

He added: "It is unfortunate that something so positive and innocent honouring a cultural tradition... is now being used to accuse me of being racist and anti-multicultural."

Mr Luckcock stated his grandparents were born in south India and he grew up "always feeling a strong connection to Indian culture".

He said: "When I use words like 'going native' that means I respect local ways and customs."

Mr Luckcock says in the newsletter he is a Muslim and his Muslim name is Abdul Qadir, and he is married to a Muslim.

In relation to the axing of teaching assistants, Mr Luckcock says it was a "great shame that those opposed to the staffing restructure" were using the media to attack him.

He asks parents to "remain patient" and not be provoked by "malicious lies" being put in the media by "people with their own agenda".

A city council spokesman said the authority had judged that the grievance against the head teacher should be investigated by an independent investigating officer, and that the governors of Uplands had agreed with that decision.

He said: "As always in such situations, we will continue to seek to work with governors to resolve the issues. As the matter is subject to investigation it wouldn't be appropriate to comment further at this stage."

Mr Luckcock defended his Facebook comments on BBC East Midlands last week, stating: "It's been taken completely out of context in a way that's designed to damage my reputation. It was not intended to be insensitive."