A LETTER has been sent to parents from the headteacher of a secondary school, following the shock resignation of the school’s entire governing body.

Parents have demanded answers as to why all of Richmond School’s 15 governors stood down after being issued with a warning notice by North Yorkshire County Council.

They found out about the resignations via social media and after five days of mounting speculation the local education authority put out a statement reassuring parents it was not a safeguarding issue.

A letter to parents has been posted on the school’s website, which was signed jointly by headteacher Ian Robertson and Pete Dwyer, corporate director of Children and Young People’s Services.

The correspondence said it wanted to “reassure all parents that no safeguarding or financial issues were involved in the discussions which then led to the resignation of the governing body” and went on to say the local authority will now need to appoint an Interim Executive Board “to quickly secure new governance for the medium term” and will then look to appoint a new Governing Body as “soon as it is possible”.

But the letter failed to explain to parents the reason behind the resignations.

It stated: “You may have become aware over the half-term break that the full Governing Body of Richmond School has resigned.

“The decision, which was notified to the Local Authority on Monday, February 17, rapidly featured in the press during the half-term break and will have no doubt led to some speculation and understandable concern amongst parents and pupils.”

The letter went on to say “As such, we agreed it would be appropriate for us to jointly write to parents to provide reassurance that the local authority is directly involved in providing swift and robust support to the school’s leadership in managing the current situation.”