We’ve found the missing Principal of Sandown Bay … now working in Kent (update 2)

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The Principal of Sandown Bay Academy, who hasn’t been at the school for several weeks, has been working at the Isle of Sheppey Academy in Kent for the last two weeks.

Thanks to a telephone tip off, OnTheWight has learned that the head teacher is working under the title of Associate Principal at the Kent school.

When we asked AET yesterday, they told OnTheWight yesterday that she had been “on an extended leave of absence”.

We expect to have more news at 4pm today.

16 months in Sandown post
The head teacher previously worked on the Isle of Wight as Principal at Carisbrooke College. She left Carisbrooke in March 2012, citing her wishes to “be closer to family and work in a city environment.”

Just four months later, the head teacher joined Sandown Bay Academy as interim Principal (July 2012) and was then appointed as permanent Principal in March 2013.

Article edit
10.30am 25th Apr 2024 Name of headteacher removed as requested
5.15pm 12th Aug 2024 Photo removed as requested

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mat
15, November 2013 3:25 pm

Astonishing!!

ALLAN
15, November 2013 3:45 pm

well let’s hope she wasn’t drawing salary from both ,having messed about on the island with 2 of our schools in recent times

Vix
15, November 2013 4:04 pm

She’s not going to get a very good reference from the Isle of Wight, is she

BRIAN
15, November 2013 4:08 pm

One school is unfortunate, two schools sounds like carelessness!! Taking peripatetic teaching to new heights!

gurty
15, November 2013 4:12 pm

Is she going for a Guinness World Record or something?

retiredhack
15, November 2013 4:57 pm

Excellent scoop, OTW.

diogenes' barrel
15, November 2013 5:06 pm

What kind of references do they take at Sheppey Academy?

Dalek
Reply to  diogenes' barrel
15, November 2013 5:08 pm

It would seem only very cursory ones. Do her current employers know she is allegedly still employed here?

Cynic
15, November 2013 5:26 pm

Interesting! Wasn’t it Kent County Council that the previous IWC hire as “educational consultants”despite their result for academies being worse than the Island ones? BTW The Isle of Sheppey Academy was rated by Ofsted as “requires improvement” in March 2013 having previously been rated “inadequate”in February 2011. In July it was reported “Sadly, yet another Principal of Sheppey Academy has lost his job, joining a long list… Read more »

greenfiremouse
15, November 2013 5:38 pm

I seem to remember that Jonathan Russell, the previous Principal of Cowes Enterprise College who retired when the school went into special measures, originally came from the Isle of Sheppey Academy.
Certain things appear to go full circle!

woodworker
15, November 2013 5:47 pm

Outrageous. Presumably she has now been dismissed by Sandown. Hopefully she will soon be dismissed by the Isle of Sheppey academy. If she has been taking a salary from Sandown whilst working elsewhere she should repay that money. AET should take her to court over it. This is worse than benefit fraud – some people get confused and unwittingly claim more than they should. It seems obvious… Read more »

tryme
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 10:02 am

Definitely a case of speculation by woodworker, Which is fine in the moderate way of other posters on this topic, but sounds like a judge putting on the black cap in his case!

woodworker
Reply to  tryme
16, November 2013 10:08 am

if you want to make outrageous comments to try and provoke an argument, do it somewhere else.

Island Monkey
15, November 2013 6:00 pm

Expect to hear soon that IOW Council has paid her off in a secret deal. Let’s hope not.

You might expect the Head of a failing school to be very busy – in the failing school, but since when did common sense apply in education?

woodworker
Reply to  Island Monkey
15, November 2013 6:10 pm

This isnt about education – its about someone breaching their contract and committing gross misconduct.

Cynic
Reply to  woodworker
15, November 2013 7:57 pm

@WW Not speculating by any chance, are you? :-))

(BTW a breach of contract is a civil matter not a criminal one, so a “prosecution” would be inappropriate.)

woodworker
Reply to  Cynic
15, November 2013 8:05 pm

No, not speculating at all. She has been moonlighting. That is breach of contract and gross misconduct. How do we know she has been moonlighting? AET were not informed of her other employment.

A prosecution would indeed be inappropriate, which is why I referred to it as a “private prosecution” rather than a criminal one. Not strictly accurate, but Im quite sure you know what I meant.

Cynic
Reply to  woodworker
15, November 2013 8:51 pm

Are you not speculating that there was a breach of contract? So far has not AET claimed that she was on “an extended leave of absence”.

woodworker
Reply to  woodworker
15, November 2013 9:07 pm

AET have confirmed that they were not informed that she is working in another school.

“I can confirm that we have not been informed by Mrs Khan Jones nor her representative that she is working in another school, but in contacting the named Academy it is correct.”

woodworker
Reply to  woodworker
15, November 2013 9:11 pm

Hardly a great leap to assume that her contract with SBA require that she work at SBA, is it. In fact, it is a given that her contract has been breached, since AET were not aware that she was working at another school. Of course without seeing a copy of her contract, no-one could be certain – Maybe she was permitted by her contract to take an… Read more »

Cynic
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 8:32 am

@WW “Of course without seeing a copy of her contract, no-one could be certain”

So…. speculation? :-))

woodworker
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 10:11 am

yeah, if you like, speculation.

And from you, a huge gurt dollop of pedantic.

Of course I cant be 100% certain of what I say. But I am 99.9% certain that SBA would not have allowed their principal to moonlight.

Still, good to know that the pedants are alive and well and picking tiny holes in anything anyone says. Dont you have anything better to do?

tryme
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 10:32 am

Nothing better to do than ‘answer back’ to woodworker, Cicero?! ;-)

a) You have to take into account his lack of soh; b) that he is always right; c) that he is the only one who may disagree; and d) he must have the last word.

woodworker
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 10:59 am

And tryme just HAS to make snide comments in other peoples conversations.

Whoops, I sunk to her level there. Off to do something more interesting with my saturday. Bye.

Cynic
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 11:07 am

@ tryme Some bloggers do not like to be publicly “hoist with their own petard” :-))

Cynic
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 11:12 am

Ooops sorry Simon- I sent this before reading your slap on the wrist :-((

You are aright ad hominems dd nothing to the discussion.

However, as a professional journalist, presumably you do not object to challenges between fact and opinion, nor would tolerate faint whiffs of hypocrisy?

tryme
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 11:20 am

I take your point Simon, and it is your call. It is where one poster seems emphatically dismissive and disrespectful of another in a way that crosses a line, and the other poster appears subdued by this, that I try to support them, especially in cases where I value the other poster’s contribution. In some cases this might encourage the other poster to remain posting rather than… Read more »

woodworker
Reply to  tryme
17, November 2013 10:42 am

“But if the moderators step in when comments from a poster are judged to have crossed a line, others of us won’t need to.” This sentence sums it up. It is Simon and Sallys job to step in IF someone goes too far. NOT yours. Thats all I have to say about this. Im pretty sick of being told off by Tryme because she thinks I have… Read more »

Nitonia
Reply to  Island Monkey
15, November 2013 6:15 pm

Not sure why the IOW Council would be paying her off, she didnt work for them she was an employee of AET. Be nice to know if she has committed fraud and have her two employments overlapped? If so is she guilty of gross misconduct in both positions? Does she have friends high up in the DfE? What on earth is going on?

Black Dog
15, November 2013 6:12 pm

I feel for the children and parents. The IW Council must hold an immediate inquiry (assuming they do not already know the full SP) and demand answers from AET. Does Ofsted know?

Where is Councillor Whitehouse now? Why have we had no press release or is this down to Councillor Priest in Whitehouse’s mind?

woodworker
15, November 2013 6:19 pm

Perhaps OTW should get in touch with Shaheen Kahn-Jones and ask her why she has breached her contract. It seems AET were unaware of this before OTW contacted them for a comment. If she was on an extended leave of absence, what was that for? If it was for sickness, she would have had to provide a doctors note. If it was for another reason, what was… Read more »

Lady at the Back
Reply to  woodworker
16, November 2013 11:56 am

I have no brief for Mrs Khan-Jones, but it seems to be a bit hasty, not to mention defamatory, to assume she has broken her contract/ drawn money from two schools etc, as some posters are doing. We have not heard from her – she might have sent a letter of resignation at the end of October to someone ( e.g. the chairman of AET), and it… Read more »

tryme
Reply to  Lady at the Back
16, November 2013 12:04 pm

Well put.

cheryl perry
15, November 2013 7:05 pm

all I can say is how can she expect to teach students to learn respect and discipline when she decides to leave all students and staff in the lurch, especially after the bad Ofsted inspection. this is not acceptable

mittromneylovesiow
16, November 2013 6:54 am

There’s a voice that keeps on calling me,
Down the road that’s where I’ll always be,
Every stop I make I make a new friend,
Can’t stay for long, just turn around and I’m gone again.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll want to settle down,
Until tomorrow I’ll just keep moving on.

To the next Island on the list of course. Probably to spend more time with her family.

Mark Francis
16, November 2013 10:37 am

What sort of City environment is there on the Isle of Sheppey?

A Norman
16, November 2013 11:15 am

It is no wonder the schools on the Island are in the state that they are given this amazing developments. Not only is it ironic that a head is allowed to go from one failing school to another on the island. But is also appears to be acceptable that the culture of our teaching system is not open and honest. Why has it taken this long for… Read more »

L R Traite
16, November 2013 3:01 pm

Unfortunately for Sandown Bay Academy students and staff, Ms Khan-Jones appointment appears not to have been given an appropriate level of consideration by the School Governors. If I’m wrong, I stand to be corrected, but is it not the Governors who make the appointment and not AET. Judith Richardson, an ex Ofsted Inspector and the former CE of Carisbrooke and Medina, was most concerned about Ms Khan-Jones… Read more »

woodworker
Reply to  L R Traite
17, November 2013 11:07 am

As I recall, there was an acting head in place for some time after John Bradshaw departed. Ms Kahn Jones was herself an acting head for some time. I dont think her appointment was made in haste, and was surely considered at length – perhaps that shows how good she is at pulling the wool over peoples eyes, demonstrated once again by her moonlighting and failing to… Read more »

Mark Francis
17, November 2013 11:44 am

Goodbye Mrs Chips and thanks for all the fish!

Polpot
28, December 2013 9:09 pm

What Shaheen khan jones has done for your little island will most likely forever go unnoticed amongst those small towns people that post on Internet forums like these (including myself) The problem(s) with the Isle of Wight is in part that no one harbours any academic pretense. The majority of people here care not for the vigour of academia or even the enjoyment of “doing well at… Read more »

former teacher
Reply to  Polpot
28, December 2013 9:22 pm

Boy oh boy. Where to start?

There’s lots that could be said about your post, such as, if you’re posting about educational standards at least try to get you’re/your right.

That aside, you claim, “I cannot think of a single family that have aspiring children.” Talk about a generalisation. How many families have you actually met?

Polpat
Reply to  former teacher
28, December 2013 10:31 pm

it’s surprising you didn’t even notice my MASSIVE GRAMMATICAL ERROR.
maybe it’s because you were educated here.

former teacher
Reply to  Polpat
29, December 2013 8:07 am

You missed the point. As I said, “There’s lots that could be said about your post”, I’m not interested in picking apart every error you made, but am interested in an answer to my question … You claim, “I cannot think of a single family that have aspiring children.” How many families on the Isle of Wight have you actually met in order to be able to… Read more »

Don Smith
28, December 2013 9:58 pm

Many teachers moonlight – Hence all the holidays
that they are allowed.

Who do you think teaches all the overseas students that visit the IoW every year?

Jeff
21, October 2015 4:09 pm

She now works at Mossbourne Community Academy, Hackney, London.

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