Lessons learnt from school theft

10th January 2003, 12:00am

Share

Lessons learnt from school theft

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/lessons-learnt-school-theft
IN the article (TES, December 6) about Grahame Arnold, my predecessor at Thomas Adams school, Wem, it states that his thefts “went undetected for so long because the money was largely taken from the school’s private funds”.

Mr Arnold was convicted of stealing only pound;23,000 from our private funds but around pound;58,000 was taken from public money which was paid by the education authority on a monthly basis over four years.

This does not necessarily negate the point of the article, i.e. that private school funds may need a tighter audit, but in this particular matter it was not as simple as that. It is also the case that with Shropshire County Council’s and the school’s current excellent audit and control arrangements it is extremely unlikely that such stealing could ever occur again.

Tony Stephens

Headteacher The Thomas Adams school Lowe Hill Wem, Shropshire

Want to keep reading for free?

Register with Tes and you can read two free articles every month plus you'll have access to our range of award-winning newsletters.

Keep reading for just £1 per month

You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get:

  • Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content
  • Exclusive subscriber-only stories
  • Award-winning email newsletters
Recent
Most read
Most shared