More than 10 teachers a month have been struck off in England since the start of the year, including one involved in a transgender row, according to government documents.
Of those, 64 were banned from the profession, including Sutcliffe after the Teachers Regulatory Agency (TRA) ruled he had failed to treat the pupil—who identified as a male—with “dignity and respect.” He is now appealing the decision.
A high number of cases involved teachers who communicated sexually with students and others who had inappropriate nonsexual relationships with children they were teaching.
Others had been sacked before being barred after being convicted of downloading or accessing indecent images of children.
One elderly couple—who were principals at a Lancashire grammar school—were banned for life from teaching after failing to report a teacher who abused a pupil.
Stephen and Sheila Welsby, aged 78 and 77 respectively, breached safeguarding obligations at St. Annes College Grammar School in Lytham St Annes, the disciplinary panel found.
The veteran teachers delayed reporting claims that a pupil was being abused by a teacher.
The panel heard how the male teacher told the couple he was in love with the pupil, referred to as “Pupil A,” and that one day they “could be together.”
The accused teacher was later convicted of sexual offences with the child.
‘Addicted’ to Disturbing Images
In another shocking case to come before the TRA in May, a PE primary school teacher was banned indefinitely from the profession after a panel was told he had “an addiction” to indecent images of children.Michael Fogg was given a lifetime ban following the teacher misconduct hearing after he was convicted of making and distributing indecent images of children and possessing an extreme pornographic image.
Fogg was a teacher at Deneholm Primary School in Grays at the time of his arrest before being convicted of a series of indecent image charges in February last year.
He was sentenced to six months in prison—suspended for 18 months—a 30-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, 150 hours of community service, and a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
The panel heard that in November, Fogg wrote a letter in which he “expressed remorse and regret” for the offences.
The letter said: “Just to say sorry does not come close to explaining the feeling of remorse and regret I feel and I would do anything to rewind time and take everything back.”
The misconduct hearing report added that the paedophile had “developed an addiction of some kind” to the images and that he “found sexually enticing images of children aged, it seems, between about seven to 15.”
The report added: “The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a finding of a conviction of a relevant offence for distributing and making incident photographs or pseudo photographs of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image [of bestiality].”
The report states that Fogg would never be able to teach in any school, sixth-form college, relevant youth accommodation, or children’s home in England.
‘Deliberate and Calculating’
Last month, a Bristol teacher who viewed an indecent image of a child on Snapchat was also struck off. William Nunn—a science teacher at Cotham School—received the photo from someone he added as a friend on the social media site Reddit.Prohibition documents released last week state that the individual, whom Nunn had never met, offered to share indecent images of children on the disappearing photo app.
Nunn later claimed his intention was to “entrap” the person.
“However, this explanation was not borne out by his subsequent failure even to try to go on to report the individual to the police, the school, to Snapchat, or any other safeguarding agency, despite the fact he could not have had any doubt that he was under a professional obligation to do so,” the report added.
He also deleted the app and communications, and it was reported to the panel that he kept changing his story in interviews with both the school and the police.
He eventually admitted to the allegations, the documents state.
The panel believed that the discussion between Nunn and the individual who offered to send the indecent image was moved to Snapchat to enable their communications to be deleted without a trace, increasing the chances he would not be detected.
“Nunn’s actions were deliberate and calculating in this regard,” the panel said.
Avon and Somerset Police child protection officers visited the school on March 24, 2021, and interviewed Nunn under caution at a police station.
They seized several of his devices, and the teacher was suspended from the school the following day.
In May 2021, the police told the school they were taking no further action because they could not retrieve the image and there was no other evidence of indecent images on Nunn’s equipment.
Cotham School started its own investigation and dismissed the teacher in July 2021 before referring the matter to the TRA.
The report said: “The panel was in no doubt that Nunn was deliberately dishonest in interviews in an attempt to cover his tracks.”
It found that Nunn’s actions amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
He was banned from teaching indefinitely with no review period and cannot apply to reenter the profession.
Contacted Pupil by Text
A head of science was also struck off after engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a pupil.The TRA heard that Sean Ward—who worked at a school in East Anglia—had made contact with the student, referred to as Pupil A, between June 2018 and December 2019, after obtaining her mobile phone number.
He sent her a number of anonymous text messages before she realised it was her teacher.
Ward then sent Pupil A his personal email address, through which conversations continued.
Disciplinary panel documents state Ward denied that his conduct was “of a sexual nature and/or sexually motivated,” though he accepted that his conduct involved inappropriate discussions of a sexual nature.
The panel also noted that Ward admitted to receiving photographic images of Pupil A which were of a sexual nature, although he denied having viewed them.
The report added: “The panel considered that Ward knew what the pictures would be before receiving them and that they were of a sexual nature.
“The panel did not consider there to be any plausible explanation given for receiving these images other than the potential for sexual gratification and, therefore, on the balance of probabilities, this was more likely to be sexually motivated than not.”
Pupil A, who also gave evidence to the panel, claimed that Ward had contacted her on a blocked number before sending an email asking “where do I stand.”
He then sent a further email stating, “I have a son, I need to know what to prepare for him if I’m going to prison, please let me know.”
The panel found that Ward was responsible for engaging in an inappropriate relationship with Pupil A that was of a sexual nature or sexually motivated and felt that “it did not have any evidence before it which indicated that Mr. Ward had demonstrated sufficient insight into his actions or that gave the panel confidence that he would not repeat such behaviour in the future.”
He was banned indefinitely from teaching.
Drinking During School
About 10 cases of serious teacher misconduct did not result in bans, including incidents of drinking on the job, watching pornographic material on school devices, and using offensive language to pupils when teaching.Claire Goulding—a primary school teacher at Aldermaston CE Primary School, Berkshire—who drank alcohol whilst in school, was not prohibited from teaching after expressing remorse for her actions.
She admitted to drinking alcohol in a coffee cup in school between February and June 2021, and in at least one incident, she left the cup in reach of children.
Glowing references about Goulding’s character were provided to the panel, which ruled earlier this month that it was not in the public interest to ban her from the profession.
In another case, science teacher Mohammed Babor Quibria Hossain was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after using offensive language to pupils at Sanders Draper School in Hornchurch.
The TRA stated that in May last year during a teaching lesson, Hossain behaved in an aggressive manner by shouting at pupils and banging on the table repeatedly before calling one student an “absolute nob.”
Hossain also told a pupil to “shut the [expletive] up and sit down” before saying, “Your parents might beat you up.”
The TRA ruled: “The panel was of the view that, applying the standard of the ordinary intelligent citizen, the recommendation of no prohibition order would be both a proportionate and an appropriate response.
“Given that the nature and severity of the behaviour were at the less serious end of the possible spectrum and, having considered the mitigating factors that were present, the panel determined that a recommendation for a prohibition order would not be appropriate in this case.”
The report states that the publication of the TRA findings was “sufficient” to send an appropriate message to the teacher as to “the standards of behaviour that are not acceptable.”
The TRA received 714 reports of misconduct in the 12 months before April 2022, according to its last annual report. Of those, 298 reports were probed and 108 teachers struck off—up from 39 the previous year.
