THE abrupt resignation of the head teacher of Maidstone Girls Grammar School came against a backdrop of long-running concerns among teaching staff about how the school was being led.

Dr Mary Kiely unexpectedly quit as head at the end of May, just two years after being appointed to the job. Her sudden departure at half-term stunned parents and sparked a flurry of rumours.

At the time, the school’s official explanation for Dr Kiely’s decision was that she wanted to pursue a career in a "more comprehensive system of education" and to do that, governors had agreed to release her from her contract.

But documents released by Kent County Council to the Kent Messenger under the Freedom of Act shed more light on the background to her departure and reveal that staff disquiet stretched back more than a year.

The documents show that union representatives first raised concerns about the school’s management and leadership in February 2004. Partially-released minutes of a meeting attended by 50 members of staff indicate both teachers and support staff were unhappy about declining school discipline, low morale, high staff turnover, poor communication and a failure to consult over changes such as a new school uniform.

These and other issues were taken directly to the head teacher. But it appears that over a year later, they had not been resolved. In fact, the situation had deteriorated so badly that in April and May of this year, staff felt compelled to hold two further meetings to air their grievances, highlighting issues such as record numbers of teachers leaving, absence and discipline.

It appears these two meetings proved critical in influencing subsequent events. Dr Kiely was given what was akin to an ultimatum to resolve the situation and warned in a letter from union representatives that unless she did, staff would take the unprecedented step of taking the matter directly to governors.

The unions’ letter makes clear staff did not feel the concerns first raised a year earlier had been addressed.

It states: "Rather it was felt those issues had worsened and others had emerged to an extent that staff morale had been severely depressed and the reputation of the school had reduced considerably, as evidenced by the disturbingly low number of first choice applications for Year Seven...in 2005-2006."

It goes on to warn that if the response was "judged to be unsatisfactory by staff" then those concerns "should be formally drawn to the attention of the governors body immediately".

But that never happened. Dr Kiely quit before matters came to a head.

Kent County Council said in a statement that it did not wish to comment on the disclosures.

It said: "Both the LEA and MGGS have moved on from the events which took place earlier this year and will not be commenting any further."

However, the former chairman of governors at the school David Laskow-Pooley said Dr Kiely’s departure was not solely related to concerns expressed by staff. He also said she deserved credit for putting in place changes that had led to improvements at the school since her departure.

"Dr Kiely was obviously looking at what she wanted to do longer-term and came to her decision over a period of time. If you look at what the school achieved in the summer, the results were better than they had been for a few years which suggests that what she was doing was having a positive effect," he said.