A mother of three mixed race children, who claimed her kids’ school was run by a prejudiced head who deliberately kept provocative toy monkeys in her office, has been banned from the grounds after being convicted of abusing and assaulting staff.
Convicted: Sophia Gordon
Mature student Sophia Gordon, 38, shouted and swore in and around the primary school in Southwark south-east London, claiming she was the victim of “white privilege” when her foul behaviour was challenged.
She fought the charges at Croydon Magistrates Court, where she was convicted of five counts of using threatening, abusive words and behaviour; two counts of assault and one count of harassment on various dates between March 10 and May 11, last year.
Last Friday, Gordon, of Cobourg Road, Camberwell received a twelve-month Community Order, which includes a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to thirty days and was ordered to pay £25 compensation to each assault victim, which included school head Joanna James.
She was also made subject to a three-year restraining order prohibiting her entering the school and contacting head Joanna James.
The previous trial heard Gordon had been asked not to enter the school premises due to her previous behaviour, but on March10 rushed aggressively towards the After School Club manager, shouting: “Who are you? The f***ing security?”
Gordon was described by witnesses of behaving in a violent manner in front of parents and children in the playground and shouting: “I don’t give a s*** about those children and you don’t give a s*** about mine. Give me my f***ing child.”
While looking at the manger Gordon was said to shout: “Look at her the smug c***. I’ll smash her.”
A lunchtime supervisor said other parents were distressed by Gordon’s abusive behaviour and one small boy was crying as she accused staff of being racist, turning on one and saying: “You f****** bitch.”
Her three children, aged six, twelve and seventeen years-old were either current or past pupils at the school and Gordon claimed staff allowed them to be subject to racist taunts and systematic bullying.
“They started to get bullied quite frequently and the school would deny or minimise it,” she told the trial.
“Bullying was at an extreme level. I was really upset the school never took it seriously.
“The bullies all seemed to be white and my children are not white, they are mixed race.
“I was banned for asking the school to keep my children safe. My son was chased and hit over the head with a large tree branch.”
Recalling one confrontation with head Joanna James and another staff member Gordon said: “They were looking at me with a blank cold aggressive stare, like I was nothing.
“Joanna leaned towards me to get hold of me to push me out of the gate. Maybe I pushed her hand, I don’t remember.”
She admitted posting online that head Ms James was “racist,” adding: “The school was openly allowing white children to make openly racist comments towards black children.
“The head teacher kept toy monkeys in her office.
“Joanna used the n-word multiple times like she really enjoyed using it.
“There were hardly any black staff, just cleaners and cooks. There was institutional and systematic racism going on.
“The school tried to get me sectioned and used social services to try and get my children away from me and when that didn’t work they brought these charges.”
Head Ms James said the n-word issue occurred when she admittedly quoted the full word in the context of an internal hearing, dealing with Gordon’s complaints.
“She placed it all over twitter out of context when I said the full word,” Ms James told the trial.
Another witness, Maria Mitchell, also described Gordon’s behaviour on March 10, telling the trial she heard the defendant say: “This f***ing school. You’re all c****,” while shouting and waving her arms.
On March 16 head Ms James told Gordon the police had been called, but told the trial she was met with “intimidating and aggressive” behaviour by the mum, who told her: “Can you get my kid? You’ll get more than a seeing later on.”
The head told the court: “Her behaviour was very erratic towards the school and she said: ‘I’ll come back an f*** some people up.’
“She said we were all white and racist and it was about white privilege.”
Gordon’s racism and bullying claims were dismissed by an an internal school panel, but she maintained her beliefs during the trial.
She also told the court all three children have “additional needs,” plus a host of medical ailments, including high blood pressure, migraines and arthritis.
She complained the school failed to adequately cater for their autism and severe speech impairments.
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