Choir school head awarded £58,000

Susan Cave was sacked from Ripon Cathedral Choir School

A woman head teacher was awarded £58,000 in damages after being unfairly dismissed from a cathedral choir school.

Unhappy parents put pressure on school governors at Ripon Cathedral Choir School to dismiss Susan Cave, 43, from Thirsk in North Yorkshire.

I have been quite taken aback by what has happened

Susan Cave

Mrs Cave was sacked from the £40,000 a year position which she should have taken up in September this year.

The chairman of the employment tribunal, Colin Grazin, said she had been sexually discriminated against and was treated less favourably than a single woman.

One of the school governors, Professor John Brindley, told the hearing in Leeds that they had been left with "no option" but to break her contract.

Governors had placed practical considerations over moral ones, he said.

Parents' concern

Parents had contacted the school in July 1999, voicing concern about the appointment.

This would have threatened the future of the 120-pupil school, he said.

Whatever our interpretation of the moral situation, the practical situation left us with no option but to break our contract with Mrs Cave

Professor John Brindley

Eighteen of the 76 families with children at the £8,000-a-year boarding school had threatened to withdraw 19 children.

"We had to consider the financial consequences but also the impact on the school's ability to attract pupils.

"Even the loss of 20%-25% of pupils would result in the loss of the school's liquid assets in a year," Professor Brindley said.

"All but one of us felt that whatever our interpretation of the moral situation, the practical situation left us with no option but to break our contract with Mrs Cave.

"It's fair to say other governors including myself took a rather wider view which included not only Mrs Cave as an innocent party who might be damaged, but also the children of the school and the teachers who were set to suffer considerable damage if we went ahead with the appointment."

Uncertain future

Mrs Cave was advised to take a year out of teaching and study at university.

She remains undecided as to whether she will go back into teaching.

"I'm reserving judgement on that at the moment. I have been quite taken aback by what has happened," she said.

"I love teaching and very much want to be a head teacher and will keep applying if the jobs come up, but if they don't, by doing the university course I might be in a position to apply for other jobs."