London teacher who ‘stupidly’ added ex-pupils on Snapchat avoids ban

A school teacher in north London who sent “stupid” and “inappropriate” messages to former pupils on social media is allowed to carry on teaching, a misconduct panel has ruled.Mr John Taylor, formerly Joint Head of Sixth Form at City of London Academy Islington, admitted to several actions that breached the boundaries between teacher and pupil shortly before he joined the school, including adding a teenage girl on Snapchat and sending a picture of himself with an alcoholic drink.Before he took up his post as a teacher at City of London Academy in September 2023, Taylor spent two weeks in July working for a summer English language exchange program for French teens aged 14-16.His role required holding the mobile phone numbers of young people in his group but, contrary to professional standards, he did not later delete these after the sessions had concluded.Within weeks, a series of “inappropriate and unprofessional” exchanges between him and two teenage girls over WhatsApp came under intense scrutiny.The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found that in August 2023, Taylor sent messages to one girl, named Pupil A, which read: “[A]dded you on snap. Probably shouldn’t but … [smile symbol]”, and “hope you don’t mind me checking in. I liked getting your photos but deleted them by accident”.He also asked the other girl, Pupil B, if she had a “bf” and said it “would be lovely to see you again”. Taylor also told her he “like[d] beautiful things” with a heart emoticon.A misconduct panel concluded these exchanges cumulatively “crossed the professional boundaries expected of a teacher” and that Taylor should have been aware of the riskiness of such comments – particularly since the wording “probably shouldn’t” implied he was aware his behaviour was questionable.In his defence, the teacher said he had not deliberately kept the girls’ numbers but accepted “with hindsight” that he should have deleted them. He acknowledged that his conduct was inappropriate, unprofessional, and said he had been “stupid”.Despite being found culpable for serious misconduct that risked bringing his profession into disrepute, Taylor avoided a prohibition order, which would have banned him from teaching in maintained schools and various educational settings in England.Read MoreThe panel, comprising a teacher and two lay panellists, decided his “concerning misjudgements” had not created a safeguarding risk or harmed the pupils because the communication took place after the educational activity had ended and was not considered to be sexual, grooming, nor did it involve physical contact.The panel also found him “genuinely remorseful” and judged there to be a low risk he would repeat his mistakes. Furthermore, they acknowledged Taylor had made significant contributions to education for more than two decades, and that the incident was “out of character”.Taylor’s current employer, the headmaster of a boys prep school, attended the hearing and wrote to the TRA attesting to his qualities and professional judgement, and argued there would be a “huge loss” to the sector if he were banned.Ultimately the panel agreed that a prohibition order, which would prevent him from teaching, was not in the public interest since there were “no wider concerns” about his conduct.