Ban for Yorkshire teacher who developed ‘close and personal relationship’ with student

Andrew Thomas, 49, had virtual one-to-one meetings with the teenager outside school hours and spoke to her over the phone and via email in 2020 and 2021, after they met at Sheffield High School for Girls.

A Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) investigation found he had several inappropriate nicknames for the student, including ‘Fuzzy Eyes’, ‘Tweetie’ and ‘Starlet’, and on Valentine's Day in 2021 she sent him a message on which said: “I love you”.

The part-time English teacher, who was dismissed by the school in 2021 following an internal investigation, also gave an “unnecessary and unauthorised” lift to the student, when she was going to meet her classmates to celebrate the end of their A-Levels.

The TRA ruled that he should be banned from teaching indefinitely, following a misconduct hearing last month.

At the hearing, Thomas said he had “a long-standing and close professional connection” with the student and he provided “friendly and supportive dialogue alongside academic support”.

The emails show the teenager, referred to as Pupil A, had told him about Christmas shopping, her family and an event she had been to, while he spoke about fixing his roof and shaving.

Thomas said the student had been struggling during the Covid-19 lockdowns, and the discussions were “borne out of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the pandemic and his genuine, if misguided, attempt to offer support”.

The teacher, who had worked at the school since 2006, said he provided her with his personal phone number because he was “worried for her” but later accepted it was “a grave error”.

He also claimed the one-to-one virtual meetings, on Google Meet, were arranged to help the teenager with revision and coursework, and he offered these sessions to other pupils.

After she sent him a message which said “I love you”, the teacher said he “blamed himself" for giving her "the wrong idea” and arranged a virtual meeting with her to explain it was inappropriate.

The teacher said he did not report it to the school because he did not want to “cause disruption and embarrassment” before her A-Level exams and he knew he would face a disciplinary for providing her with his personal phone number.

In its ruling, the TRA said: “The conduct of Mr Thomas fell significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher. It showed a fundamental disregard for the school’s policies and procedures including those relating to safeguarding.”

It added: “The cumulative effect of repeated behaviours and the pattern of behaviour in establishing a close and personal relationship with Pupil A led the panel to conclude that those behaviours would amount to unacceptable professional conduct.”

The panel also said his conduct “could potentially damage the public’s perception of a teacher”.

He has been banned from teaching in schools, sixth form colleges and children’s homes across the country, but can apply for the ban to be lifted in March 2025.