Teacher banned after sending messages to student

A teacher has been banned indefinitely after he sent messages of a sexual nature to a student.

Andrew Bennington, 52, was working at Scarborough Sixth Form College when he sent messages on social media and an app when the student was attending the college and after they had left.

A report into Mr Bennington's professional conduct, published by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), found he "fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession".

Mr Bennington admitted he should not have messaged the student. In addition to the ban, he will not be allowed to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

Mr Bennington was employed as a full-time teacher at the college, which caters to about 1,000 students, for 12 years.

The former student said Mr Bennington had "winked" at them on an app on a Sunday evening and they had not wanted to come into college the next day as it had "felt strange", according to the report.

On a separate occasion, the student blocked Mr Bennington after receiving a message from him.

After the student left the college, Mr Bennington sent a series of messages to them on social media, some of which were sexual in nature, the report stated.

During one chat, Mr Bennington sent a message reading: "I've my iPad for general internet porn."

The TRA report said a local authority safeguarding officer raised concerns about Mr Bennington with the college.

According to the report, during an investigation by the college, Mr Bennington stated: "I was fishing really, to see if Former Pupil A was interested".

Mr Bennington resigned a week before a college disciplinary hearing.

According to the TRA report, Mr Bennington stated "he was embarrassed about what he had done" and admitted he should not have messaged the former student.

When asked by investigators if he thought it was appropriate to send a wink to a student, Mr Bennington said "no", according to the report.

He said he "unsent" some of the messages having realised he should not have sent them to a former student.

However, a TRA panel said it was concerned Mr Bennington "had not demonstrated any understanding of why the boundary between a professional and pupils is an important one".

In his judgement, David Oatley, on behalf of the education secretary, concluded that the conduct of Mr Bennington amounted to misconduct of a serious nature.

Mr Oatley said: "The lack of remorse and full insight means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils."

Mr Bennington has a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of the decision.