Teaching ban for former Northampton deputy head who had indecent images

The ex-deputy head's teaching ban follows a conviction for having indecent images of children

A former deputy head found with indecent images of children has been banned from teaching for life.

Daniel Sim, 42, who had also threatened to post an image of a teenage girl he had been texting, was dismissed from Kingsthorpe College in Northampton in 2019.

Magistrates put Sim on the sex offenders' register and gave him a two-year community sentence.

Now a teaching watchdog has banned him from all schools in England.

A disciplinary panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) ruled the ban was needed to keep pupils safe and maintain public confidence in the teaching profession.

The panel's report stated: "His actions raised obvious and significant public and child protection concerns."

Prohibited indefinitely

It concluded Sim would be "prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England".

The TRA said because of the seriousness of the case, Sim would not be entitled to apply to teach again.

The panel said his actions did not appear to involve a pupil or a colleague at Kingsthorpe College, a secondary school with 1400 pupils.

The teaching watchdog understood there was no evidence the former deputy head's activities involved pupils at Kingsthorpe College

It noted he had "contributed significantly" to learning and teaching, which had been a key aspect of a successful Ofsted inspection.

Sim was a deputy headteacher at Kingsthorpe College between April 2017 and May 2019.

He was convicted of offences involving indecent images of children in May 2021.

The former deputy head told the panel he had "taken every possible action to understand and address his behaviour and ensure that it does not happen again".