PE teacher barred over sexual comments to Hertfordshire pupil he described as looking 'incredible'

A teacher who told a pupil her bottom looked "incredible" has been barred from the profession, according to a tribunal.

Joel Walker, a former PE teacher at Egerton Rothesay School - a school in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire for pupils with special educational needs - also told the student he had a “dream of a sexual nature involving her”.

The school suspended Mr Walker as soon as the allegations were made in April 2019, and he left the school once the investigation ended.

A signed statement by the student, known as Pupil A, read: “Mr Walker started becoming more secretive, and on several occasions, invited me to his classroom to talk during lunch.

“Mr Walker’s classroom was in a very quiet building with less people around.

“On one occasion, whilst we were in his classroom alone, Mr Walker took a ruler from his desk drawer and said words to the effect of ‘do you know how big it is?’

“He came incredibly close to me, held the ruler near his groin area and moved my hand so that one was on the mark and the other was further along the ruler.

“I felt uncomfortable with this and thought it was a very odd thing to do.”

Pupil A said Mr Walker used words to the effect of “your a*** looks incredible” on “prize day” when she was wearing a dress.

On another occasion, the pair began a race through an assault course and Pupil A said: “Mr Walker began to get quite physical with me, grabbing me, trying to throw me back and at one point pulling me back on top of himself on the floor."

In another incident which Mr Walker admitted, the teacher took alcohol to another former student, Pupil B, who was on a residential course near to where he lived.

According to the government’s Teaching Regulation Agency, the PE teacher admitted all six of the main allegations he was originally presented with at a panel meeting on December 23 last year.

A report by Alan Meyrick, Teaching Regulation Agency chief executive, reads: “In all circumstances, Mr Walker had shown a reckless disregard for Pupil A’s wellbeing and his own duties and responsibilities as a professional and role model in relation to his conduct concerning Pupil A and Pupil B.

“Accordingly, the panel was satisfied Mr Walker was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.”

The report adds: “The panel found that the offences of sexual activity and sexual communication with a child were relevant, in broad terms, insofar as Mr Walker had engaged in sexually motivated behaviour towards Pupil A."

Mr Meyrick’s decision, dated 13 January this year, is that Mr Walker is “prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”.

An Egerton Rothesay School spokesperson said: “When these concerns were brought to the attention of the school we immediately put in place the approved safeguarding procedures – which included a full internal investigation and external reporting – during which time the employee was suspended.

“At the conclusion of the investigation the employee left the school.”

Egerton Rothesay School is a school for pupils with special educational needs who can access a mainstream curriculum.

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