Teacher who had sex with two pupils struck off

A teacher has been banned from the profession after being jailed for having sex with two teenage pupils, including one whose baby she gave birth to.

Rebecca Joynes, 31, is serving a six-and-a-half year sentence after being convicted of six counts of sexual activity with a child relating to the two boys.

Now the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) has published a ruling prohibiting her from working in a classroom again.

A TRA panel heard that maths teacher Joynes had "groomed" both children from the ages of 15 and had shown "scant regard for the seriousness of her actions".

Joynes was dismissed for gross misconduct in July 2022 following her first court appearance.

During her trial in 2024, Manchester Crown Court heard she was 28 when she began exchanging flirtatious messages on social media with a 15-year-old boy referred to as Boy A.

The court heard Joynes would "laugh off" inappropriate comments instead of shutting down the behaviour, and eventually arranged to meet in secret.

One evening Boy A told his mother he was staying at a friend's house after school but instead Joynes picked him up and took him to the Trafford Centre, where she bought him a £350 Gucci belt.

They had sex at her flat in Salford that night, and the following day the boy's mother noticed a love bite on her son's neck.

Boy A's mother then stormed into his school reception and police were called, leading to Joynes' arrest.

It was while she was on police bail for the first set of offences that Joynes began grooming Boy B, also 15, despite being ordered not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18.

Joynes began messaging the boy on Snapchat and eventually they had regular unprotected sex at her flat, leading to her becoming pregnant.

Boy B, whose child Joynes gave birth to, had said he was "coerced, controlled, manipulated, sexually abused, and mentally abused", adding: "I will forever be Rebecca's victim and forever linked to her through our child."

The court heard Joynes' baby was taken from her within 24 hours of being born in early 2024.

The TRA referred to the sentencing remarks of Judge Kate Cornell on 4 July 2024, who said: "You showed breathtaking gall in deliberately and knowingly breaching police bail conditions with almost identical offending behaviour as that you were on bail for."

The TRA recommended to the Secretary of State for Education that Joynes be struck off.

Marc Cavey, a decision maker on behalf of the Secretary of State, confirmed the decision and described Joynes' behaviour as "fundamentally incompatible with working as a teacher".