Gloucestershire teacher who turned up drunk to work banned from profession

A teacher who turned up drunk to work and texted a mum threatening to kill her boy has been banned from the profession.

Terence McHenry also sent aggressive messages to the headteacher of Sheiling School in Thornbury, a boarding school for pupils with special educational needs.

He also hid previous medical history, including alcohol problems, in his job application because he had received 30 rejections, a misconduct panel heard.

The hearing was also told the texts made the head of the independent school feel “threatened and uneasy due to the unpredictable behaviour of Mr McHenry which over time had become increasingly hostile”.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel barred him from the profession indefinitely with a minimum five-year review period after finding his conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring teaching into disrepute. 

Mr McHenry, 53, did not attend the two-day hearing earlier this month and was not represented.

The panel ruled that he had attended work while unfit and/or under the influence of alcohol on 30 August 2019, and on 11 February 2015, while a teacher at King’s College, Taunton.

The report published by the panel said: “During Mr McHenry’s disciplinary meeting, he admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol whilst on site whilst working and he stated that he had lied on his application form.”

It said he accepted drinking heavily at night and would still be under the influence of alcohol the next morning at work, although there were no pupils present on that occasion.

However, at private school King’s College during an evening in February 2015, he was drunk and acted “inappropriately and aggressively” to students through “strange, worrying and intimidating behaviour”, the panel heard.

The report read" “The students reported Mr McHenry smelling of alcohol, walking uneasily and seeming to lose coordination at times.

“It was alleged by the students that Mr McHenry had made inappropriate comments including ‘alright p****s’ when greeting them and ‘this is a f*****g tune’ when the students were listening to music.

“The students also reported that Mr McHenry had said ‘don’t get me wrong I hate you but if you wanted me to be your tutor I would back you’ and ‘didn’t think I would miss you because you have a really punchable face’.”

He was suspended and later dismissed for gross misconduct.

A spokesperson for Sheiling School Thornbury said: “We welcome the decision of the Teaching Regulation Agency on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.

“This is an incredibly serious matter involving a former member of staff who lived on site and worked for Sheiling School for a number of months.

“During the summer holiday period of 2019 we became aware of an incident and subsequent unacceptable behaviour that fell significantly short of the high standards we expect from all our staff.

“We took immediate and decisive action resulting in the dismissal of the individual involved.

“This professional conduct investigation found that the individual provided false and misleading information in order to secure their role at Sheiling School as well as another school where the individual had been employed previously and had demonstrated unacceptable professional conduct.

“We continue to uphold incredibly high standards of scrutiny and a code of conduct for our staff and are very proud of the excellent team here at Sheiling School.”

Credit: Local Democracy Reporter Service/Adam Postans