Teacher banned over relationship with student

Daniel Roberts was banned from teaching until at least 2030

A teacher who was in a relationship with a student has been banned from the profession indefinitely.

Daniel Roberts, 32, exchanged inappropriate emails, had given her lifts in his car and met with her for social activities during his time as head of music at a school in Penrith, Cumbria, between 2019 and 2021.

A misconduct panel heard the relationship turned sexual in June 2022, after she left the school.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found that the proven conduct was serious and it had been referred to the police, but no further action was taken.

Mr Roberts admitted exchanging 3,000 pages worth of inappropriate and personal emails with the student between September 2019 and April 2021, and offering her lifts in his car.

The panel was shown examples, which included a discussion about the student taking a bath in 2020.

Mr Roberts, who was employed at the school from 2017, told the panel he attended events with her family and he was invited to her home.

'Multiple safeguarding failures'

Mr Roberts admitted to starting a sexual relationship from June 2022 after the student had left the school. He denied his conduct prior to then was sexually motivated.

He said it would have "repulsed him to see or be a teacher who wanted to engage in a romantic or sexual relationship with a pupil".

The panel said it had not been given evidence that a sexual relationship had started before then.

It added that "Mr Roberts may have been contemplating some sort of future relationship with the pupil, it could not be satisfied that this was a sexual relationship".

Mr Roberts told someone at the school that he was in a romantic relationship with a former pupil in June 2022. He was suspended the following month.

"There were multiple failures by Mr Roberts to address the safeguarding risk, and Mr Roberts actively encouraged and engaged in inappropriate communication with the pupil," the report found.

'No clear guidance'

Regarding the emails, lifts and social meets, the panel was satisfied that Mr Roberts was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

However, the panel was not satisfied that there had been a breach of the teachers' standards regarding the sexual relationship.

The panel considered there was "no clear guidance on when it may be considered appropriate for a teacher to engage in a sexual relationship with a former pupil".

Mr Roberts was prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England.

The panel said Mr Roberts would not be able to apply for the prohibition order to be set aside until 6 January 2030.