An unqualified Wigan primary school teacher has been banned after setting up fake email addresses to pretend she had a teaching degree.
A disciplinary hearing heard that 24-year-old Claudia Malley began studying for a BA Honours degree in Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status in 2015 at the University of Chester, but only gained a lesser qualification.
Miss Malley then started work as an unqualified teacher at St Mary and St John Catholic Primary School on Standishgate in the Greater Manchester borough of Wigan in September 2018.
This was while she continued her studies.
She told staff at the primary school that she had received emails from the university and Wigan Council saying she was fully qualified to teach. But when she attended her graduation ceremony on 5 November 2019, she only received a Diploma in Higher Education after failing to meet the requirements of the degree programme.
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Staff at the school noted similar characteristics between the two emails Ms Malley provided to support her claim – including font size, type and similar errors of grammar and punctuation.
The school carried out an internal investigation – with a disciplinary panel concluding it was “most probable that the author of the emails was the same person” – which led to Ms Malley’s employment being terminated and the police informed.
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The disciplinary hearing found Ms Malley’s “serious dishonesty” to be unacceptable professional conduct.
She has now been banned from teaching for three years.
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Manchester Museum has been shortlisted for the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year
Danny Jones
Another bit of very well-deserved recognition for our city as the Manchester Museum has been shortlisted for the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year.
Organised by the independent and membership-based British charity, which raises funds through the collection of important works and artefacts, it’s world the single largest museum prize in the world.
Shining as one of the crown jewels in Manchester’s cultural scene, the museum has been named among five other impressive finalists for this year’s award, which is evaluating inspiring projects from autumn 2022 through to winter 2023.
This wonderful news comes at a good time for Manchester Museum, which recently welcomed its one-millionth visitor since reopening to the public in February last year, following a £15 million values-led redevelopment. It really is back with a bang.
With Art Fund keeping audiences and communities at their heart, the highly revered accolade has a particular focus on community engagement, sustainable ways of working, and demonstration of ambition by reinventing what it means to be ‘the best’ museum for the audiences of today and tomorrow.
For context, the Manchester Museum (which sits as part of the University of Manchester) was the most visited indoor museum in the North of England throughout 2023, despite being shut for an entire month, welcoming a total of 790,332 people through their doors.
Speaking on this year’s selection, director Jenny Waldman, who heads up the 2024 judging panel, has applauded each of this year’s finalists for delivering “something for everyone” and keeping “community at the very heart of their programming.”
“Their commitment to innovative partnerships whilst operating within an extremely challenging funding environment is incredible”, she added. “I’m so pleased to see the way they support and centre young people through their work.
“Across a wide range of size and scale, these organisations are all real leaders in their field. I urge everyone to go and visit these extremely special spaces.” So do we.
As for the museum themselves, DirectorEsme Ward said of the announcement: “Manchester Museum’s redevelopment was the result of 10 years’ collective endeavour, so being shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year is a moment of joy for everyone to share in, from staff and partners to our communities and Manchester itself.
“It is an affirmation of museums’ power to bring people together in building a more inclusive, hopeful future.”
Built on self-proclaimed values of “inclusion, imagination and care”, the museum’s recent reopening has positioned it at the forefront of the sector here in the UK, with new galleries, partnerships, visitor facilities, sector-leading programming and digital innovations.
These updates, along with their existing and award-winning South Asia Gallery – the largest and first permanent gallery in the UK to celebrate the experiences and contribution of the South Asian diaspora co-curated by members from the community itself – are what have helped put it in the running for this prestigious prize.
Visitor numbers for the first year following reopening were up 157% on 2019/20, with 57% of those being new attendees and more than one in seven’s first trip to a museum ever.
The other four shortlisted museums are the Craven Museum in Skipton, North Yorkshire; Dundee Contemporary Arts, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Young V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum, also in the capital.
The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony at the National Gallery in London on 10 July and will receive £120,000 to put towards internal projects and cultural work. Better still, £15,000 will be given to each of the four other finalists, so everyone’s a winner in a way.
Congratulations again to everyone at Manchester Museum and well done for all your incredible hard work – we can’t wait to be right about you again in a couple of months when we’re confident you’ll be rightly named as the winner of the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year.
Tributes paid to former Manchester City winger Ian Mellor, dead at 74
Danny Jones
Tributes are pouring following the death of former Manchester City star, Ian Mellor, who has sadly passed away at the age of 74.
Mellor, from Sale in Greater Manchester, played as a left winger for Man City as well as the likes of Norwich City, Brighton, Chester, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford.
With his family and former club confirming the death on Wednesday, 1 May, social media has been awash with people paying their respects to the seasoned ex-pro who sadly died following a long battle with amyloidosis, a rare and incurable disease which affects organs such as the heart, brains and kidneys.
Replying to his son and ex-Liverpool turned Sky Sports broadcaster, Neil Mellor, the club paid their respects to the former Blue who made 50 appearances for the club.
We're saddened to learn of the passing of our former player, Ian Mellor.
Mellor began his career just down the road at Wythenshawe Amateurs before going on to represent City from 1970 to 1973.
A boyhood fan of the club, he scored 10 goals whilst wearing Sky Blue and also went on to win the Charity Shield with them back in 1972.
Eventually nicknamed ‘Spider’ for a good chunk of his career due to his long-legged stature, he remained attached to the beautiful game for years after his retirement and went on to become a committee member for the Former Players Association at City.
Joining the likes of all his former clubs, Chester City said: “Everyone at [the club] is saddened to hear of the passing of Ian Mellor. Sending all our love to you and your family, Neil Mellor.
His son Neil’s goodbye has touched many online too, calling his dad his “hero” and his “everything”.
He also went on to thank locally-based end-of-life care organisation and charity, St Ann’s Hospice, who have facilities all over Greater Manchester and who helped care for Ian in his final days.
Our thoughts are with his friends and family as well as those whose lives he touched through football during this difficult time.