A FORMER PE teacher at Bromsgrove School has been banned from teaching indefinitely after sending ‘unacceptable’ text messages and e-mails to two pupils.
The decision relating to Gareth George was taken following a professional conduct hearing carried out by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL).
During the hearing, evidence was presented that he ‘acted inappropriately’ towards one pupil by e-mailing her on one or more occasions in the evening, outside of school hours, by asking her if she had WhatsApp and by asking if she was home in the evenings outside school hours.
Mr George admitted these allegations.
It was also heard that Mr George had ‘acted inappropriately’ towards a second pupil by texting her on her personal mobile phone number on one or more occasions and texted her during the evenings outside of school hours.
These were also both admitted by Mr George as was an allegation that he went over to the second pupil and offered to hold her up while she was doing pull ups with a different group.
He denied ‘singling out’ the second pupil on one or more occasion when she was in a group but the panel found, on the balance of probability, he did single her out when she was in a group.
The teacher, who had been at Bromsgrove School since September 2009, was suspended on December 9 after another staff member found out about the allegations.
On or around December 11, Mr George tendered his resignation, with effect from December 31.
It was accepted by the school on December 15.
At the hearing last month the NCTL panel, based on the proven facts, was satisfied the conduct of Mr George involved breached that of the Teachers’ Standards and his actions amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that could bring the profession into disrepute.
In the report, decision maker Jayne Millions said: “The panel noted Mr George has been found to have abused his position of trust and acted in an inappropriate way towards pupils, however, this should not be seen as more serious than it is – the panel has not found that Mr George made any physical contact with any pupil; nor has it found Mr George to have been sexually motivated. Such conduct was not present in this case.”
The ban imposed means Mr George is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
He is also unable to apply for the prohibition order to be put aside for at least three years.
