Nabiha Fredj said she received no support from school staff

Nabiha Fredj, 47, said staff and students discriminated against her at Norfolk's Great Yarmouth High School.

Tunisian Mrs Fredj, of Great Yarmouth, said pupils chanted "cut the African's head off" and other insults.

The tribunal said although the school had not discriminated against her she had undoubtedly suffered and its anti-racism polices should be reviewed.

Mrs Fredj told the employment tribunal she received no support from staff and became ill.

Work stress

She said she began working as a teaching assistant in the spring of 2002 and had suffered racist abuse both in and outside school.

During her employment, when she also worked as a supply teacher, Mrs Fredj said staff had failed to stop pupils verbally abusing her, leaving her feeling undermined and humiliated.

She said she had reported incidents to the head teacher at the time. She told the tribunal she had not realised incidents outside school should have been reported to police.

Mrs Fredj claimed she was not invited to take part in departmental meetings and had to provide her own teaching materials because, unlike other teachers, she had not been given a key to a room where items were kept.

Suffered from abuse

By March 2004 she said she began to fear going to work and, in June, she was told the school did not have the funds to employ her in the next academic year.

Because of the stress of going to work, her GP prescribed medication and signed her off work, she said.

It was not until she received a goodbye card last August that she realised she would not be returning to the school.

The chairman of the Norwich tribunal Christopher Ash said she had undoubtedly suffered very badly from abuse but said the school had not discriminated in the way it treated her.

The head at the time had every right to choose other candidates for the new posts when her contract expired, he said.