Victory for deputy head teacher sacked for restraining ‘out of control’ pupil who hit and kicked him as he wins unfair dismissal claim

• In April 2022, Mr Kitchener was sacked without notice for gross misconduct
• Employment judge Michael Atkins concluded he had been unfairly dismissed 

A deputy head teacher is in line for a payoff after he was unfairly sacked for restraining an ‘out-of-control’ female pupil who attacked him.

Clive Kitchener tried to block the path of girl, who then walked into him, hit him five times, kicked him and broke his glasses, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Kitchener, 55, had been asked to make sure the child left the school, after she had been excluded for walking out of lessons and throwing objects.

Despite having been ‘physically assaulted’, Mr Kitchener was sacked from his £60,000-a-year job for gross misconduct. The chief executive of the academy trust where he worked argued that the girl ‘could have spent the whole day at school behaving in that fashion’, and ‘physical intervention would not have been justified’.

Mr Kitchener, a former soldier, sued the school trust for unfair dismissal and won his claim after an employment judge ruled the school had not trained him properly on the use of force. The hearing in south London heard Mr Kitchener was working at Goodwin Academy in Deal, Kent, which is run by the Thinking Schools Academy Trust. The school has 900 pupils aged between 11 and 18, and was noted as ‘requiring improvement’ in its most recent Ofsted report.

Employment judge Michael Atkins concluded that Clive Kitchener had been unfairly dismissed

In October 2021, a pupil – referred to as Student A – was misbehaving by walking out of lessons, swearing, throwing things in classrooms, and barging into people in corridors, the panel heard.

Principal Simon Smith decided to exclude her, and told Mr Kitchener to make sure she left the school. Mr Kitchener, who is married and from Deal, told Student A she needed to go home and that she had ‘not made wise decisions that day’. His comments angered her, and she stormed off, the tribunal heard.

Mr Kitchener followed the pupil – who was ‘the same size as an adult’ – until she turned around and walked towards him, telling him to ‘f*** off’. The teacher – who felt the girl was ‘out of control’ – decided to block her path with his arms out to his side, but she walked into him and started ‘struggling’.

The panel heard the girl then hit the teacher five times.

The following day, the school referred the incident to the police and local authority. Neither chose to take any action, but school bosses felt Mr Kitchener had used ‘unnecessary force’. He was asked to work from home for three weeks, and disciplinary proceedings began the following month.

Academy trust chief executive Stewart Gardner told the tribunal he ‘did not feel the level of behaviour exhibited by Student A merited a physical intervention’.

In April 2022, Mr Kitchener was sacked without notice for gross misconduct.

Employment judge Michael Atkins concluded that he had been unfairly dismissed. A hearing to decide on a level of compensation will be held later this year.

Mr Kitchener – who started teaching six years ago after serving 23 years in the Army – said the experience had been a ‘difficult time’, but he was back ‘doing what he loves’ after getting a teaching job at another school.

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