Despina Pavlou

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Despina Pavlou in her office at Lord Grey

Despina Pavlou was the head teacher of the Lord Grey School in Bletchley, Milton Keynes from September 2002 to November 2006. Ms Pavlou was suspended^[1] for allegedly assaulting her Deputy Head. She was officially dismissed in November 2006. Confirming her dismissal, her solicitor told the Milton Keynes Citizen ^[2] "Miss Pavlou will be appealing against that decision and she will have the full support of the Association of School and College Leaders in the appeal proceedings."

Despite this fact Ms Pavlou did manage to turn the performance of the Lord Grey school from unsatisfactory ^[3] to good ^[4]. Her sometimes harsh rules really did get the jobs done. Hopefully she will be known not just for her multiple exclusions^[5] of pupils but also for the determination and effort she put into the Lord Grey School.

Despina is known in Milton Keynes for the court cases she has attended. A pupil at Lord Grey was suspended by Ms Pavlou for allegedly being responsible for an arson attack, the pupil and his parents took Ms Pavlou to court on the grounds that she took away the student's right to education. Ms Pavlou eventually won the court case after a three year battle which ended up being decided^[6] in her favour by the house of Lords. Human rights lawyer Cherie Booth (Blair) represented the pupil. The National press took an interest in Ms Pavlou at this stage because of queries about what was funding the court case.

Ms Pavlou was previously deputy head teacher at John Mason School in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.