Paul Mundy-Castle has racism claims dismissed at tribunal

Paul Mundy-Castle, who is black, took his former employer Woodcote High School – where he earned more than £100,000 a year - to an employment tribunal for unfair and wrongful dismissal, race discrimination, race-related harassment, victimisation, and whistleblowing detriment. 

However, the tribunal dismissed all his claims and concluded that his actions amounted to ‘serious financial mismanagement’.

Coppice Spring Academy on Pack Lane. Photo: Google Maps. Following his dismissal from the Croydon school in 2021, Mr Mundy-Castle became interim headteacher at The Coppice Spring Academy, in Pack Lane, Basingstoke in 2022 – a secondary school for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, run at the time by Catch 22 Academies Trust.

Mr Mundy-Castle, who appeared on Good Morning Britain several times and who campaigned for greater ethnic diversity in teaching, claimed to the tribunal that a governor at Woodcote High School – Hiten Savla – had informed the Basingstoke Gazette about his dismissal in an attempt to “embarrass the claimant or sabotage his then employment” [at Coppice Spring].

In fact, Mr Savla was approached by the Gazette for comment after we received a tip-off about Mr Mundy-Castle’s dismissal, which included a copy of a letter sent to parents.

READ MORE: Paul Mundy-Castle taking Woodcote High School to employment tribunal

Mr Mundy-Castle claimed Mr Savla “reached out to the Basingstoke Gazette… which led to them publishing three damning stories about me in the local press”. He claimed this resulted in him having to leave the temporary job at Coppice Spring.

Mr Savla explained that he provided the Gazette with “very basic factual information”.

The tribunal concluded that “it would be very odd indeed for Mr Savla to have ‘reached out to’ the newspaper” and said that “all he did was confirm the claimant had been dismissed… which the newspaper clearly already knew.”

It added: “We do not find that his limited response was in any way related to race.”

Mr Mundy-Castle also claimed to the tribunal that his former employer ‘unreasonably’ took him through a ‘flawed disciplinary process’ which led to his dismissal. He claimed his ‘harsh treatment was in stark contrast to the lenient treatment meted out to various white colleagues who had committed misconduct’ and that this, and other acts, were ‘racial discrimination or race-related harassment’.

Woodcote High School claimed Mr Mundy-Castle was dismissed because he committed ‘acts of gross misconduct’ relating to ‘financial irregularities’.

The tribunal, which was presented with almost 4,000 pages of documents and 150 pages of witness statements, heard that Mr Mundy-Castle signed off purchases without approval including £38,000 for WiFi equipment, £53,000 on desks and almost £48,000 on a canteen.

He was also found to have appointed a company part-owned by his step-brother, which should have been declared.

Mr Mundy-Castle claimed he filled out a declaration of interest in relation to this company. However, the tribunal said this was submitted after he had a disciplinary investigation meeting. The tribunal said the evidence given to the tribunal about this work by Mr Mundy-Castle ‘was not true’.

When governors questioned Mr Mundy-Castle’s actions in relation to financial decisions, he told them he was ‘financially astute enough to manage the budget of one school considering my previous role as executive head… I managed the budget effectively for four secondary schools’.

He told governors this would be his last communication on the matter. 

Mr Savla feared the school could ‘run out of cash’ and said money was going out ‘with no clear guidance or authorisation structure; it seems whimsical’.

He said when he looked at the numbers ‘it really scares me’ and there was ‘great frustration’ that information requested was not given other than ‘trust me’.

In April 2020 Mr Mundy-Castle emailed the governors to say he was in conflict about how to deliver his vision for the school and accused the governors of holding him to ‘a higher accountability than my predecessor'. 

He said he felt ‘as a leader of education with expertise and a track record’ he did not need to be ‘micromanaged’.

Mr Mundy-Castle was suspended from his role as headteacher on November 18, 2020, and in his witness statement described being ‘visibly frogmarched out of the school like a criminal’.

He later changed his evidence and admitted that Mr Savla ‘escorted him from the premises’.

The former headteacher asked for his grievance into his dismissal to be investigated by a neutral third party, saying “I need to feel that my colour is not the reason why there is so much distrust of me”.

The disciplinary hearing found the headteacher’s actions amounted to ‘serious financial mismanagement’ which was in breach of the finance policy and procedures, and his failure to disclose financial information and accounts when repeatedly requested. He was dismissed from his post in 2021. 

The tribunal found that Mr Mundy-Castle was not unfairly dismissed and that he committed gross misconduct. It said Woodcote High School did not treat him ‘less favourably because of his race’ and that his dismissal ‘did not relate to his race’.

The tribunal accepted evidence from Mr Mundy-Castle that fewer than one per cent of headteachers in Britain are black, and said: "It was clear to us, from the claimant’s career history and his presentation at the hearing before us that he is an intelligent, accomplished and charismatic man."

In a statement sent to the Gazette, Mr Mundy-Castle refused to accept the decision saying it was “clearly and demonstrably wrong”.

He said he is “considering my legal options”, adding: “It transpires that white/non-black staff can commit gross misconduct but when a black headteacher challenges that, he is then wrongly and unlawfully dismissed – that was my perspective. The tribunal however saw the matter differently.”

He signposted the Gazette to a "documentary about my life" published on YouTube which he said “may help educate and give a better insight to who I am.”