A FORMER teaching assistant from Tredegar was awarded nearly £18,000 by an employment tribunal after resigning following allegations that she was bullied.

Christine Gray, 49, from Cefn Golau, claimed unfair constructive dismissal, from Tredegar Comprehensive School alleging she was bullied. She was awarded £17,958 after her dismissal claim was upheld.

Both the school and the Local Education Authority, run by Blaenau Gwent Borough Council, were strongly criticised by the tribunal.

Judge Martha Street presided over the tribunal, held in Cardiff on July 8 and September 11.

Her judgement states: “Mrs Gray complains of instances of bullying including reprimands given in front of the pupils.”

The judgement added that the headmistress of the school, Anna Foote, received complaints about Mrs Gray’s teaching performance.

The judge stated: “Some teachers had indicated that they did not want Mrs Gray used for cover on their lessons.”

Mrs Gray was appointed to the school as a teaching cover assistant in September 2004.

Her husband Alan, 55, was appointed as a teaching assistant at the same time and remains in his post to this date.

Mrs Gray resigned on August 2, 2007, citing the failure of the school to disclose complaints about her for several months, including allegations that misbehaviour she reported was overblown, unnecessary and dishonest and as a result students had little respect for her.

After the hearing, Mrs Gray said: “I am delighted with the outcome of the tribunal.

“I was not even bothered about any money I would receive, I just wanted it to be confirmed that the school and the LEA were in the wrong.”

Mrs Gray added that she has suffered from stress and has not gone back to work since resigning from her post.

She said: “I could not even entertain the thought of getting back to work at the moment....This whole episode has really hit me hard.”

Judge Street's judgement also hit out over conflicting evidence brought to the hearing by her employer. It added: “Someone has sought to mislead the tribunal. There can be no innocent explanation of the conflicts in the evidence.

“The conduct of the employer here was such as to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence which should exist between employer and employee.

“There has been wholly confused, even misconceived, handling of this matter by the education authority.”

A spokeswoman for Blaenau Gwent Council said: “We are studying the written judgement, which is the official summary of the findings of the tribunal, to see what lessons we can learn.”

The headteacher of Tredegar Comprehensive School, Anna Foote, declined to comment about the tribunal.