| Maureen Brennan | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Teacher |
Dame Maureen Brennan is headteacher at Barr Beacon Language College in Walsall, West Midlands. She took over leadership of this school in Easter 2007 after spending several years as the Principal of Hillcrest School and Community College in Netherton, West Midlands. Before this time she spent a significant time at Great Barr School in Great Barr, Birmingham as a senior member of staff under Brian Sherratt.
She let it be known that Hillcrest School had "no structures, systems or routines" when she took over in September 2002. In 2002 the school came out of special measures. By the beginning of 2003, Ofsted inspectors described it as "one of the most outstanding schools in the country". One of her recipes for changing that was the introduction of a "house system and a prefectorial system". She introduced formal routines such as pupils standing up when someone walks into the classroom; she also got rid of the bells that sounded the end of each lesson. Other measures included a sin bin or exclusion room (dubbed the "doom room" by the pupils) where misbehaving pupils could go for a period of isolation from their peers.
Contents |
Brennan was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.
On Wednesday 12 December 2007 it was reported that Brennan and her recent senior management team was under investigation for fraudulent reporting of attendance figures during the time that she was headteacher.</ref> "Dame Named in Fraud Probe", Dudley News, 12 December 2007
Dudley Council's investigations have now ended and the case has been passed to the West Midlands police Economic Crime Team. Brennan was identified in the Dudley report for leading a team of senior managers who EWS investigators claim manipulated registers to make the school look more successful than it was. In their interim report, EWS (Educational Welfare Service) officers allege the records created a false impression of improved attendance which promoted the school's image and resulted in higher pupil numbers. It is believed none of Brennan's senior management team remained at the school after she left last year.[1]
After a brief investigation the police quickly decided that there was no case for Dame Maureen to answer and declined to take things any further.