Parents of pupils become increasingly frustrated at lack of action at Dalmain Primary School
A school which has lost almost a third of its staff in almost four years has denied staff were victimised and parents ignored. Teachers and families have spoken to the South London Press about a deteriorating relationship between headteacher Erika Eisele and the school community since she arrived in 2018. But the governors say she has been commended by Ofsted and that the staff losses are normal wastage. TOBY PORTER reports
Parents at a school were shocked to hear the headteacher is going on maternity leave – just as the South London Press asked for a comment about her regime.
The announcement was made in a letter to families circulated this week from the chairman of governors at Dalmain School in Grove Road, Brockley Rise.
Parents of pupils had become increasingly frustrated at the lack of action when they complained about headteacher Erika Eisele, who joined in September 2018.
Governors, in a response to a request for comment from the South London Press, issued a statement on Tuesday saying the school was oversubscribed and pointing out the May 2019 Ofsted report said: “The headteacher, well supported by the senior leadership team, has successfully transformed the culture of the school. This has led to the rapid improvements seen.”
The chairman of governors Catriona Scott said in the letter to parents: “I am writing to you with the happy news that Ms Eisele is expecting her first child and will be going on maternity leave from early July.
“Plans and contingency plans have already been thought through and agreed to ensure the leadership structures needed to secure this will remain in place.”
Before the announcement, a parent, who did not want to be named, said they felt they had not been listened to.
She said: “A parent would ask for something to be carried out for a particular child and it would not happen. It was still a very difficult decision to move our child but when we did, they really blossomed.
“The teachers were once relaxed and nurturing. But then it was like the school had gone back to the Victorian era. It was regimented. People were not seen as individuals but as business units.”
Her partner said: “Our child had to be coaxed to school. They didn’t want to go. It was very stressful when you have a job to go to.
“Our child was always happy to get home. I would try and get them to say something good about their day and they would always say it was the lunch break.
They could not find anything positive to say about lessons at all.
“I did not join the Facebook group of unhappy parents because it would just make me more angry.”
A third parent, with one child there and another already at secondary school, said: “I was told ‘If you don’t like it, you can leave.’
“I thought that odd – because she is supposed to be working for us.
The parent said they raised the high staff turnover with governors but felt they didn’t get anywhere.
It does not surprise me if teachers are being shouted at, because the way she speaks to us as parents is atrocious. There are rules upon rules upon rules.
“She is trying to tick boxes and the nurturing of children is lost.”
The parent said she got the feeling the children couldn’t stand her whereas, she said “They loved [former headteacher] Elizabeth Booth and it was oversubscribed. But now it is not a happy place.”
A fourth parent said: “I’ve found so many people with worse experiences than me but who did not want to come forward because if they specified anything, it would be obvious who was talking to the paper.
“Elizabeth Booth had been amazing. It had been such a warm community school. But that has gone.
“Parents have concerns but I feel as if our feedback would not be welcome. We don’t expect any action to be taken.
“I don’t think she realises she is so intimidating. Some parents are actually physically nervous to raise issues – so how are the children likely to feel?
“It is like we are in Victorian times or in a Dickens book. There is no running in the playground. Everything is stricter.”
Catriona Scott said this week: “No formal parental concerns or complaints have been made to the governing body about the current headteacher.
“Parents are encouraged to follow the school’s complaints policy if they have any concerns.
A complaint to governors was not made as claimed in one of the statements you received.
Complaints are taken very seriously.
“There are currently just under 800 parents and carers with children in the school.
“The school is one of the most popular in the local area and is consistently oversubscribed.
Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school, as can be seen with the Ofsted Parent View that was undertaken at the last inspection.
‘Culture is toxic and divisive, no one trusts anyone. Everyone lives in fear’
A school has denied a big loss of staff is because of the headteacher’s regime and incidents of victimisation.
Governors at Dalmain School in Grove Close, Brockley Rise, which has 379 pupils, say the mental health of its staff is a top priority – and that it had “very much normal staff turnover” for that period.
The school had 66 staff when headteacher Erika Eisele arrived in September 2018 and now has 45. Governors confirmed six staff left in 2018-19 and two the following year.
Last year, 11 were made redundant and there were two retirements, while a parent working there temporarily also left.
Current and former staff have expressed their anger to the South London Press at Ms Eisele’s methods.
One member of staff for 10 years, who did not want to be named, went off sick with work related-stress in September 2020 and was made redundant in March 2021.
She said: “There were some really, really unpleasant situations where the mental health of staff was put in jeopardy.
One had a nervous breakdown – was howling like a dog in the school. It was a good teacher – well liked and respected but treated in an inhuman way.
“Confident people were reduced to a shell,” she claimed.
“It was really, really unpleasant. She claimed I was unpopular. I made an official complaint and she cut my pay without any notice – but I lost and the governors found the head had acted reasonably.
“I came to doubt whether I was any good at my job. But I now know it’s not me.
“I don’t understand why anyone would be so horrible to people. The culture is toxic and divisive. No one trusts anyone. Everyone just lives in fear. I feel sorry for the people who believed in it and put so much of their lives into it.”
A teacher for 12 years, who did not want to be named, said: “Everything changed after she arrived.
Teachers had no voice. Ideas were foisted on us. Anyone who disagreed with her was ignored so people left – even quite strong-willed people. Her management ideas seem to come from the 1950s.
“She tried to promote the narrative the school had been failing under [previous headteacher] Liz Booth – who was made an MBE.”
Year Six teacher Alex Gwinnett, who suffered a nervous breakdown in November 2019, said in a letter to governors in July 2020: “I feel the school is now such a negative environment. I’m truly saddened to be leaving but … the direction the school has taken under the current head, at hectic and unheeding speed, has caused both me and colleagues a lot of concern, and indeed pain.
“[The school] has become progressively more rigid, with teachers less trusted and with the head seemingly beyond accountability.”
He made a complaint under Lewisham’s Whistleblowing Policy in September 2021 but was told by dispute resolution expert Marilyn Smyth it was too late – and a grievance procedure should be used for individual employment matters.
A teaching assistant for 23 years who did not want to be named, said: “In the first meeting with the teaching assistants she said we were all stale and had been there too long. She was telling us we were crap.
“She told me I was in my comfort zone. It was a continuous six months of battles. I could walk, but I felt sorry for staff who had to stay. Sometimes under a new head, personalities don’t fit. But this was bullying.”
A teacher there for 16 years left in July 2019, a year after Ms Eisele’s arrival, and said when the now head started: “I felt initially she had her heart in the right place. But there was no consulting with staff.
“Everything was set down. There had to be a one centimetre gap between children’s artwork placed on notice boards.
Each one had to be straight and aligned. You weren’t allowed to be creative. It was de-skilling all teachers. We used to create moments of wonder and awe – but that stopped.
“She gave me a list of what I was getting wrong. I lost a lot of confidence. It got to the stage where I did not want to come to school. I would sit crying in my car. It was impacting the children. That’s when I decided to leave.
“In my exit interview, I told her I was leaving because of her. There was a clear divide between the school and its community. I moved to a school just five minutes from Dalmain.”
Chairman of governors Catriona Scott said: “Dalmain takes the mental health and well-being of its staff and pupils very seriously, and is actually a Mental Health Hub for the local authority.
This means it has been highlighted as displaying particularly good practice in this field, and has been asked to share its approach with other schools in the area.
“Since September 2020 just three teachers have left, not eight as claimed. In a two-form entry school, this is very much normal staff turnover, and each had standard reasons.
“Most of the teaching staff remain long-standing and there is mutual respect and support between the headteacher and staff. Governors actively monitor the relationships between the leadership team and staff.
“Training was offered [to any underperforming staff] and staff fed back how much they enjoyed that.
Performance was managed in line with Lewisham council and national standards.
“The accountability measures are consistent with the national and local authority standards.”
Ofsted states headteacher is well supported
A statement from the chairman of governors at Dalmain School, Catriona Scott, in November said the progress since headteacher Erika Eisele joined the school has been acknowledged by Ofsted.
Inspectors said after their May 2019 inspection: “The headteacher is an excellent role model for staff, who uses their expertise and experience from other school settings to innovate and implement new ways of working.
“This has had a significant impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress.”
Ofsted also acknowledged that since the previous inspection: “The headteacher, well supported by the senior leadership team, has successfully transformed the culture of the school. This has led to the rapid improvements.”
Restructuring and finances
Ms Scott said: “In common with many other schools, ensuring we use our limited resources to give students the very best outcomes has been a challenge in recent years.
“This has resulted in three restructures, all focused on maximising the number of talented teaching staff
who spend their time in the classrooms making the difference for our children.
“This has significantly reduced staff in the school and ensured we are now in a strong financial position. Without these restructures, the school would be running a deficit budget, due to austerity measures and the costs of the pandemic.
“We are confident the restructuring decisions we’ve made have prioritised the children’s safety, education and well-being.
“During these restructures, the school has supported all staff, especially those who have been affected.”
Staff well-being
“During the last four years, an expected number of staff have left the school due to promotion, relocation and changes in family circumstances.
“The school actively supports staff training and career development, offering secondments to staff who wish to work in leadership positions and ongoing high quality professional development.
We are thrilled when our highly trained teachers go on to leadership roles elsewhere.
“The governing body is committed to supporting staff and ensuring healthy engagement with staff is maintained.
“We follow national guidance and have comprehensive, transparent procedures in place to deal with staff complaints and concerns.
We always take immediate, appropriate action in response to issues raised. No such claims have been upheld in recent years.
“In order to ensure the board is transparent and following best practice, we regularly invite external and independent advisers for assessment.
The governing body
The governing body contains a mix of long-serving governors, some of whom have served the school for more than 20 years, and parent and co-opted governors, many selected for their legal, HR and financial skills.
The headteacher has the full support of the governing body.
“The headteacher is held to rigorous account by the board, and is challenged to deliver consistent results.
The board also fully understands the improvements under the headteacher would not have been possible without dedicated staff.
“Without the well-established culture of mutual respect and professionalism which exists amongst staff, the school could not possibly be thriving.
“I’m grateful for the improvements Ms Eisele has brought. S
he has been unstinting in her quest for improvement and always has the children’s education and well-being uppermost in her mind.
The Dalmain difference
“Dalmain’s strapline is ‘Where creativity meets educational excellence’, and the improvements the school has made in recent years bear out the truth of this.
“The school building has recently been fitted with solar panels, and is undergoing a deep retrofit to improve air quality in the school, and bring down the school’s carbon emissions.
“This has been tied in with core subject and extracurricular learning and facility improvements. As a governor, it has been inspiring to see such a project delivered, particularly when climate change is such a critical issue.
“Art has become a huge focus for the school, which offers specialist art, dance and music lessons to all year groups, ensuring the children are given the cultural capital to succeed.
We retain a laser focus on ensuring our Pupil Premium children are given the opportunities they deserve.
“We’re proud of the progress made and the senior leadership team have our full support as we continue to develop our school as a place where pupils and staff alike thrive.”
Angela Scattergood, director of education at Lewisham council, said: “The leadership team at Dalmain School are doing great work, which has been acknowledged by Oftsted, and they have our full backing and support.
We fully investigate all complaints and allegations and can confirm that none have been upheld against Dalmain School.”
If you have a story to tell, email news@slpmedia.co.uk
‘Shocked she’s going on maternity leave.’ I’m shocked anyone thinks parents shouldn’t have the right to parental leave. I’m even much more shocked that this newspaper thinks that’s a suitable lead to a story and that it’s even worth mentioning. The takeaway to me seems to be that whoever has commented is ‘shocked’ that women of child-bearing age should be allowed to have careers – and why this paper is giving airspace to that sort of misogyny is beyond me. You should be ashamed.
I’m really shocked by the bullying and intimidatory tone of this article. Any human has every right to go on maternity/ paternity leave.
Singling the headmaster out with such spiteful comments makes me feel very uneasy reading this article. The article comes across more like gossip than reporting.
Every parent has the right to complain through the proper channels but this article feels totally out of place.
This is a deeply misogynistic article. Shaming a headteacher for her pregnancy has no place in a news report.
All schools will have a handful of disaffected teachers and parents, but this is not a school with a bad Ofsted, Parentview or a particularly startling staff turnover. I find your reporting deeply irresponsible.
And your comment shaming the journalist and twisting the point of this article(clearly deliberately) is a responsible action as one of the governors? 😂
This head teacher has a perfect right to go on maternity leave – as no doubt these disaffected parents did for their children. It is outrageous and discriminatory that a woman should be criticised for taking time off to have a baby. Your company has invaded her privacy by announcing that she is pregnant and worse still airing criticism of her for being so. It is appalling that this personal news should be published and vilified in this way. It sounds like she has the backing of the governors and approval of Ofsted (no easy achievement) and is running the school to their satisfaction. There really is no case to answer here – there are always moaning parents, judge her on the results. This story is a rubbishy, muck-raking piece of work which ought to be taken down immediately and an apology issued.
In reality, no one is shocked by she is going on maternity however by a lack of comment (still now) regarding of what is written on this article. It is funny all the commenters chose to focus heavily and only on head’s right for maternity leaves. Never mind her treatment on the staffs – who cares about their right? Clearly no one ! As for the Ofsted and school being arty, you will get the previous headmaster having awarded a MBE exactly for that. That was there long before the current one arrived.
I had the displeasure of making a complaint to this school and watched the people involved get away with doing something wrong. I left it all behind me (until now), often I regretted not sharing my experience with Dalmain further. I hope Erika has a healthy pregnancy and good maternity leave, this is not what the article is about, the comments high above sound off. Maybe it’s time for reflection and accepting accountability that others have been hurt. Maybe you are a good person, but on this occasion, your actions have been wrong and hurtful. It’s OK to acknowledge that and move on. I want to make clear that my child does not attend this school, and I don’t work here. My complaint was about Erika, her use of the school after hours, handling of information, and also the personal impact on my child and me. My one complaint was found to be rubbish by Catrina Scott, I was accused of making several complaints, but I made one complaint and then the format I used was wrong and there was a few back and forth about how to submit. I backed off, I didn’t have the will to stick up for myself, I was on anti-depressants and I’m still being diagnosed to this day. Catrina, if you see this maybe you would like to ‘discourage me’ again since I’m daring to post on this article? I’m not taking that quietly again. I wish all a bright future. But the truth always comes out.
May be she is socially biased, this headteacher is not trying to be decent by not listening to anyone, and being backed by the governors, sounds like they have the same mindset and only care about results , not lives.
She is dragging the school, staff parents and children into her personal issues.
People don’t like to hear the truth and maybe permanent maternity leave may resolve the problem,
I had to make 4 phone calls to the safeguarding teacher, before I got a call back, as it appears she has to be listening in to parent and staff phone calls, and not to mention she is a bare face liar with racist taits. That’s my experience with her.
Maybe once she has her own kids in the school system ,she might change.
They not shaming her for being pregnant.send your kids their for a year then come back and defend her behaviour.
What about the other people’s stories?
She was a mess before pregnant.God help her
The maternity leave surely had no place in the article . I am the father of a child attending Dalmain, and I had the misfortune of seeing first hand the way the current headteacher handled my issue. I found her arrogant to say the least without going into details. I did want to escalate my complaint to the governing body but felt i did not want to risk putting my son under any pressure because of that. What strikes me of this story is the lack of interest from the governing body to get to the bottom of this. Maybe she is an outstanding teacher, and maybe I am just a demanding parent or worse. Nevertheless I would have expected some real interest in finding out the truth from the governing body. Best wishes to her and the baby before anything else.
I, too, was shocked – by the fact that the first four online responses chose to dwell, some at considerable length, on a single sentence early in the article, and call out misogyny. Let us be clear, misogyny has no place in this world, but on my reading of the article on 4th February nothing in the comments and complaints reflected misogyny in any way. The article was about the performance of a headteacher, gender immaterial.
For me it is significant that the Head of Governor’s evidence of Ms Eisele’s standing was supported by an Ofsted rating of ‘good’ very early in her tenure and by parents’ response from that same Ofsted in 2019. I was a coopted junior school governor for 18 years and I am certain that both the ‘good’ Ofsted and parental approval would have reflected more fully the operation put in place by her predecessor, rather than any change Ms Eisele could achieve in that time. An MBE for services to teaching being awarded to her predecessor, and a very recent Ofsted under Ms Booth’s tenure which rated the school as ‘good’ and on the verge of outstanding, does indicate that Ms Eisele inherited a successful school.
I would be concerned, as a member of the community, let alone as a parent or as a governor, to see that a complaint against Ms Eisele, which was backed by 15+ people – as was referenced in the right to reply published after this article – was ruled to be time-barred and there was no further investigation. How long was the process under discussion, I wonder, before the time-barred ruling? It looks as if a technicality was used to shelve an issue I would wish to see investigated to a proper conclusion, upheld, or dismissed.
I’d like to know why the governor who left a comment about the ‘spiteful’ tone of this article did not identify herself as holding this role at Dalmain, and why she thinks the installation of solar panels has got anything to do with what’s being discussed – something that was included in the Chair of Governor’s official response…?
Sadly this is our exact experience of the school. We raised concerns about certain issues and despite chasing never received a response. I raised again and still have not received a response from the SLT that answers any of my questions. We have now removed our children from Dalmain and have already seen a huge difference in the mental health of our kids. Shutting patents out, not listening, being rude to parents in the playground (we have witnessed this), ignoring concerns raised is not only completely incompetent but also extremely sad for all the parents and children involved.