A LEADING Wirral grammar school has suspended its headteacher.
Stunned pupils and parents were last night told Andrew Hall, head teacher at top-performing Calday Grange grammar school, in West Kirby, was suspended by governors.
Pupils were yesterday given a letter home confirming Mr Hall, headmaster at the Grammar School Lane school since 2002, will be “absent for a while”.
Last night, the school refused to comment on the reasons behind Mr Hall’s suspension, which came just two months after he helped guide his students to record GCSE results, with 55% of entries graded A* or A.
But in a statement, chairman of governors Margaret Twemlow said: “The matters under investigation are not of a financial or child protection nature.
“Staff and governors will continue to work together to ensure the effective running of the school.”
It is understood the suspension surrounds clashes between governors and Mr Hall over the way Calday Grange was being run.
In January, the school, which dates back to 1636, making it Wirral’s oldest surviving grammar, became the first in the borough to become a Trust school.
Trust schools are often described as private schools within the state system, because they are allowed to develop their own ethos and withdraw from the council network of schools.
There are already more than 120 across England.
Governors at Trust schools have a huge say in school operations through more independence in management, the appointment of staff and including outside partners in the governance of the school.
In Calday Grange’s case, they includes the University of Liverpool, Unilever and Maestro Services Ltd.
It is understood friction between Mr Hall and governing officials had built up over the issue of how the head teacher’s role fitted into the overall operation of the school. The situation came to a head with Mr Hall’s suspension on Thursday.
