Marc Horne - Scotland on Sunday
June 10, 2007
A YOUNG teacher found hanged at her home faced disciplinary action for allegedly giving her pupils unfair help in an exam, it was claimed yesterday.
Vanessa Rann, 26, a French teacher, was found dead by her fiancé, Darren Mitchell, at her home in Bristol last Saturday.
It was reported that the newly qualified teacher had left the city's Grange School and Sport College after being slapped by a senior colleague during a row in front of a class of children.
But a close friend of Rann has disputed this and instead claimed the young teacher was distraught and depressed after being caught giving her French GCSE students "unfair help" in an oral examination during the final weeks of a previous half term.
"She had been spoken to by the headmaster about her professional conduct," the friend said.
"She was told that she was allowed to prompt the children but she had overstepped the mark. The school was in the process of deciding on disciplinary action."
The investigation was to determine whether her collusion was deliberate or accidental.
Rann was seen crying outside the school gates in the Warmley area of Bristol three weeks ago.
She had told students that she feared she was going to be sacked and had arranged a farewell barbecue at her home in Staple Hill for the Year 11 students she was alleged to have helped.
Acclaimed as a bright, enthusiastic and vivacious teacher, Rann was said to be highly popular with both students and staff. On hearing the news of her death her parents flew to England from France, where she was born and educated at the Lycée Auguste and Louis Lumière in Lyon.
In a statement on Thursday, Steve Cook, the head teacher at the 900-pupil college, said: "Her death has been a real shock to the school. It's been a complete tragedy."
Neighbours at the home Rann shared with her fianceé and another tenant said that the three had regularly held parties in their garden during the recent hot spell. "They were always laughing, joking and very polite," said one elderly neighbour.
An inquest was adjourned at Bristol Coroner's Court, where the cause of her death was confirmed as hanging.
Education experts said last night that the young teacher was unlikely to have been dismissed because she had started teaching only in September and would be given leeway for her inexperience.
(retrieved in full from scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com)
