Bernard Randall vs Trent College

Sep 07, 2022

The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall was sacked by Trent College (independent school) and reported to the ‘Prevent’ anti-terrorism programme for defending pupils’ rights to question the introduction of new LGBT policies. Dr Randall has taken Trent College to an employment tribunal.

Much of the Tribunal has involved discussions of a sermon that Dr. Randall gave to two different groups of students in chapel. The text of the sermon has been published on line by Christian Concern in May 2021. We did not observe the actual sermon and it has not been recorded so we cannot comment on what was said. However, the published text has stood since May 2021. The link is here:
A school sermon by Bernard Randall: Competing ideologies

Status

The tribunal rejected all of the claim made by Fr Randall. Randall has announced that he will appeal the decision. Copy of the decision is here.

All evidence has concluded as of 22 September 2022. Submissions will be in writing and are due to be exchanged and provided to the Tribunal in 28 days, with a further week for any written responses if required. Judges will look for dates for deliberation, estimated to take 3 days, after that.

Update 12th Aug 2024: After being denied appeal twice, Reverend Randal launched a judicial review into Dame Sarah Asplin's ruling that there was no case to answer

Abbreviations

BR - Bernard Randall

TC - Trent College

RO - Richard O’Dair, barrister for BR

PW - Paul Wilson, barrister for TC

EJ - Employment Judge

Panel - other members of the tribunal

E&C - Educate & Celebrate, providers of diversity and inclusion training to schools, also an ‘awards scheme’ for participating schools.

PC - Protected Characteristic

WS - Witness Statement

C - Claimant

D - Defendant

CofE - Chuch of England

JH - Jeremy Hallows - TC employee

MD - Morag Dakin - TC employee, HR manager

EB - Ellie Barnes - E&C employee

NF- Nicola Fenton - TC Board member

JR - Justine Rimington - Safeguarding at Trent College

CK - Chris Kelly, Trent College

FP - Faith Potter, head of the Elms, the junior school affiliated with Trent College

WP - W J Penty - Head of Trent College

DE - Deborah Evans, Chair of Board of Governors Jan 2020 to date

NF - Neil Finlay, Governor

DB - Darren Brumby, Deputy Head Academic

JG - James Gregory, TC, director of operations

Tweet threads

There was a morning session on 7 September which was procedural in nature. We were granted access only after BR began giving evidence in the afternoon. Estimated that we missed approximately 20-25 minutes of the tribunal. There may be errors and imprecise dates and names as a result.

7 September 2022 Afternoon session - testimony of Bernard Randall, examination by Paul Wilson for Trent College.

8 September 2022 Morning session - further testimony of Bernard Randall, examination by Paul Wilson for Trent College

8 September 2022 Afternoon session - further testimony of Bernard Randall, examination by Paul Wilson for Trent College

9 September 2022 Morning session - further testimony of Bernard Randall, examination by Paul Wilson for Trent College

9 September 2022 Afternoon session - further testimony of Bernard Randall, examination by Paul Wilson for Trent College

12 September 2022 Morning session - further testimony of Bernard Randall, examination by Paul Wilson for Trent College

12 September 2022 Afternoon session - testimony of Bernard Randall concludes.

13 September 2022 Morning session - testimony of Jeremy Hallows of Trent College.

13 September 2022 Afternoon session - testimony of Jeremy Hallows of Trent College.

14 September 2022 Morning session, Part 1

14 September 2022 Morning Session, Part 2

The morning tweets contain a recurring typo: Richard O’Dair, barrister for Bernard Randall is abbreviated as DO. Apologies.

14 September 2022 Afternoon Session, - testimony of Justine Rimington of Trent College.

15 September 2022 Morning session - testimony of Justine Rimington of Trent College concludes.

15 September 2022 Afternoon session - testimony of Chris Kelly, head of school LGBT group and Faith Potter, head of the Elms and the investigator of complaints against BR.

16 September 2022 Morning session - testimony of WJ Penty, head master of Trent College

16 September 2022 Afternoon session - further testimony of WJ Penty, head master of Trent College

20 September 2022 morning session - further testimony of WJ Penty, head master of Trent College

20 September 2022 afternoon session - further testimony of WJ Penty, head master of Trent College

21 September 2022 morning session - conclusion of testimony from WJ Penty, testimony from Deborah Evans (current chair of governors) and Neil Finlay, governor

21 September 2022 afternoon session - testimony from Neil Finlay and Darren Brumby, deputy head pastoral

22 September 2022 morning session - testimony from Morag Daikin, TC HR, and James Gregory, TC director of operations.

Press coverage

This section includes links to a selection of press coverage, that may include blogs, videos and interviews about the case. These links are included without comment and are not endorsed by Tribunal Tweets. This is a sample of coverage only - it is not comprehensive. Please DM our main Twitter account to submit coverage from an established news outlet. Any paywalled article must be archived.