An Essex primary school teacher who claimed she was "ganged up" on by parents despite being found to have grabbed a child around the neck has lost a bid to sue the school for unfair dismissal.

Charlotte Moore, who was also accused of racially insensitive remarks by a parent after calling a group of pupils "chattering monkeys", lost her case of unfair dismissal against Trinity St Mary's School in South Woodham Ferrers.

The year 6 teacher faced allegations of grabbing one pupil by the back of the neck and shaking another child back and forth by the collar. In another incident, she allegedly 'joked' about threatening to shoot the children or herself.

Employment Judge Suzanne Palmer said the reasons for her dismissal were right on the basis of the physical assault allegations.

The school first heard complaints about Moore on March 2023 from a parent after they heard she told the class "they were acting like a bunch of monkeys" which the parent found "a very racist comment".

The court also heard Moore, who worked at the school from April 2021 until her dismissal for gross misconduct on July 27 2023, told the class that "they are getting on her nerves so much she wants to shoot herself or them".

The complaint also said she was "always negative" and that the complainant's child started to feel unwell on Sunday evenings because he was stressed about going to school the next day.

Police, who had launched an investigation, were satisfied that she had used the phrase "chattering monkeys" to the entire class and that this had been taken out of context and would not be considered a racial slur or hate crime.

Police then considered that what remained was "an allegation of a conditional threat and inappropriate use of language towards children", which was denied by Moore, which the school was best placed to investigate internally.

On March 20, 2023, police started further investigations into a potential assault following allegations from a child who claimed she put her hands around another pupil's neck.

In April the police informed the school that the police investigation could go no further as the allegations had been made more than six months after the alleged incident.

However, Moore was told she remained on suspension pending an internal investigation which would be carried out by the school.

Several allegations were put against her – the 'chattering monkeys' comment, threatening to shoot her class if they asked more questions, an allegation of causing a negative impact on well-being over a period of time, grabbing a child by the neck or collar, causing a detrimental impact on the organisation and bringing the school into disrepute.

Moore denied all the allegations while accepting that she used the words: "You are like a bunch of chattering monkeys. Quieten down and get on with your work".

On the allegation that she threatened to shoot anyone who asked any more questions, or shoot herself, the claimant denied any threat but said that she does make "overly dramatic statements" to children in a "joking way" to put them at ease.

The claimant denies any physical assault. She says that in Year 5, the alleged victim was on a behaviour plan which was in part for violent and aggressive behaviour to other children. 

She says that in conversations with him about his behaviour, she would use phrases such as "How would you feel if someone did that to you?"

During the school's investigation, a disciplinary panel considered her explanation that the complaints were the result of coordination or "ganging up" against her by parents but rejected that explanation.

 It considered she "had not demonstrated understanding that her actions were inappropriate". 

Backing the school's decision to sack the teacher, the tribunal judge, Suzanne Palmer, said it was difficult to see how a reasonable employer could conclude that the "chattering monkeys" comment taken on its own was sufficient to amount to gross misconduct warranting summary dismissal.

Ms  Palmer added that when assessing the severity of this conduct, the school does not appear to have addressed whether these inappropriate remarks were innocently meant and whether this meant that they fell short of the territory of gross misconduct for which summary dismissal would be appropriate.

She added: "In respect of [to the allegations]  that it was within the range of reasonable responses available to a reasonable employer to find that these amounted to sufficiently serious misconduct to warrant the claimant's dismissal."

She concluded: "For the reasons I have given, I find that the claimant was fairly dismissed by the respondent by reason of misconduct. The claimant's complaint of unfair dismissal is dismissed."