Paedophile head 'like lord of his kingdom'

A jailed paedophile headteacher was "given free rein" to recruit about 80 employees without advertising the roles or holding interviews, a union has claimed.

Neil Foden, who was headteacher at Ysgol Friars in Bangor, Gwynedd, was jailed for 17 years in July for sexually abusing four girls between 2019 and 2023.

The National Education Union (NEU) told Newyddion S4C that data it had seen showed Foden had not consulted governors or even advertised nearly half of the roles he recruited for between September 2021 and January 2024.

"He (Foden) was like a lord of his own kingdom," said NEU Wales officer Dilwyn Griffiths.

BBC Wales understands from sources within the school that Foden's daughter, Lisa, resigned from Ysgol Friars earlier this year, having initially joined as a teaching assistant.

A former online prospectus gave her most recent position as head of Year 11 – a non-teaching, pastoral role.

The BBC does not know how she was hired.

He said the NEU was given access to the recruitment data through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, submitted after it was informed eight jobs at the school were at risk.

Mr Griffiths said the NEU was also concerned about the unusually high number of appointments made at the school between September 2021 and January 2024.

He described the FOI response as "shocking", adding that a school of that size was only expected to have a turnover of five to eight staff per year.

"What emerges is accountability," said Mr Griffiths, saying governors were only involved in 12 out of 94 appointments made during a three-academic-year period.

"Foden was given free rein to do whatever he wanted," he added, describing the governors at the time as a "helpless" body.

Mr Griffiths said that, on the 29 occasions when interviews did take place, Foden was present at each one along with some of the senior management team.

The data also showed that among the appointments made without advertising or interviews were six senior appointments, including roles within the senior leadership team and heads of department.

School employee, Gill, whose name has been changed, told Newyddion S4C that she knew several people who were offered a job by Foden without going through official processes.

"It's long been the opinion of many staff that certain jobs were earmarked, and that the recruitment and appointment process wouldn't be fair or unbiased," she said.

The school, which is one of the largest secondary schools in north Wales, is said by the union to have had a debt of almost £500,000 earlier this year.

This is compared with data from March 2021 showing it had almost £1million in reserve mainly because of grants due to the pandemic.

Ten months before his arrest, Foden spoke to BBC Wales about school budgets after lockdown.

The new school governing body said there were "lessons to be learned", and that they are now following Cyngor Gwynedd's guidance when recruiting.

Acknowledging the financial pressures faced by many schools in Wales, Dilwyn Griffiths said that Ysgol Friars' debt accumulated because of "more spending on staff than there should have been" and that it was clear that "no-one was keeping track of it".

The governing body at the school had started a process of compulsory redundancies by the end of the last financial year (April 2024) due to the establishment's financial situation.

The consultation process ended without the school having to make any redundancies because 17 staff members left on a voluntarily basis.

Mr Griffiths questioned how the appointments during Foden's time as headteacher had not come to the attention of the local authority, who were responsible for issuing the contracts.

He said this undermined public confidence and "the public would like to know that their money is being spent appropriately".

The school's new chairman of governors, Brian Jones, said that as a board they recognised there was "uncertainty" about the "advertising and appointment processes" carried out by Neil Foden "during his 26 years as headteacher".

He said the recruitment arrangements of the past were not "open and transparent enough."

Mr Jones said the school's "policies and administration" were being reviewed, so that they were "in line with all statutory requirements and school and council policy".

Cyngor Gwynedd said that not all of the 94 appointments were new and they were a combination of temporary posts, promotions and internal changes.

A council spokesperson said it was supporting the governors and the new school leaders to "ensure that their appointment processes are sound and effective for the future".

The governors and Cyngor Gwynedd said Ysgol Friars was now in a "financially sound" position and that, moving forward, they were working together on the "general and financial management" of the school.