Church of England chaplain Bernard Randall (see photo) is appealing an Employment Tribunal (ET) ruling rejecting his claims of unfair dismissal against a CofE school after giving a sermon on accepted Anglican teachings. He is also taking legal action against the diocese which, he claimed, offered him no support – ‘not even a whisper’.
Dr Randall was employed by Trent College in Nottingham, an independent Anglican school. In May 2019, he gave two sermons to children about ‘competing ideologies’ which led to his summary dismissal. He was reinstated subject to conditions; then made redundant in 2020 after complaints following another sermon.
Underpinning the school’s education, according to its objects, are the Protestant and Evangelical principles of the CofE. (In her ruling, the employment judge appeared to ignore those core objects as an irrelevancy.)
In 2018, LGBT group Educate & Celebrate (E&C) was invited into school for a staff training day. E&C’s aim is to ‘smash heteronormativity’. E&C’s leader Elly Barnes encouraged staff to chant ‘Smash heteronormativity’. In evidence to the ET, staff denied knowing what this meant – even though they participated. The judge described the chant as an ‘enthusiastic attempt to warm up the teachers’.
Following a sermon in 2019, which the judge described as ‘an act of retaliation’ to the E&C programme, Dr Randall was suspended. The Diocese of Derby was informed and its safeguarding team investigated, leading to a report stating Dr Randall was ‘entrenched in his views’. The views expressed in his sermon were accepted CofE teachings – but he was deemed a safeguarding risk; and reported to Prevent as a potential extremist – a referral the judge approved of.
In evidence to the ET, the school’s deputy head Jeremy Hallows refused to concede that tolerance has to be mutual, saying: ‘I don’t like the word tolerance, I prefer acceptance.’ Yet he later accepted that Dr Randall had urged toleration for the beliefs of others.
A separate case is being prepared against the Diocese for religious discrimination and harassment.
Though Dr Randall said he did not request support from the CofE, he told the archdeacon about his suspension: ‘[The archdeacon] said, “we don’t get involved in school matters”. It was clear there was going to be no practical support. It’s really hard because my place of work and my colleagues and friendships were all taken away from me.’
