A teacher has been banned for life after he offered students his personal phone number and touched them in a ”sexually motivated” way.
Matthew Bell, 53, was found by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) to have engaged in inappropriate behaviour between 2016 and 2020 when he worked as a PE teacher at Sandhurst School in Berkshire.
A panel in January barred him from teaching after a student reported he had “positioned his hands near my groin” while stretching, after inviting him to attend a one-on-one lesson during the Covid lockdown in March 2020.
Student A said Mr Bell had “offered me his personal number and said that if I ever needed help, I can contact him”.
The report also found Mr Bell had offered his personal phone number to a second student at this time.
Student A declined but Mr Bell emailed him and asked if he would like to come into school – which was against government guidance at the time – asking him to meet him “at the back door at the gym”.
The student said: “The teacher touched my legs and hamstring muscles, asked if they were hurting, and positioned his hands near my groin.”
He added: “His hands were sliding down my legs closer and closer to that area. His hands were inside my legs towards my testicles.”
Mr Bell received a warning for similar conduct in January 2016, when he attended the sports hall and engaged in “physiotherapy-style stretches” with another pupil, which included him “stretching and pulling” the student’s legs.
Following further allegations he was dismissed by the school, which he joined in 1996, and was referred to the TRA.
He wrote in a written statement: “On reflection, my actions were inappropriate and not in keeping with being a teacher and role model to students.
“As a teacher, I did attend safeguarding courses as part of professional development but did not adhere to them as I should have done. This was wrong and as an experienced teacher, I should have known better.”
Mr Bell denied that his actions were sexually motivated, but the panel concluded that there was “no plausible innocent explanation for Mr Bell’s touching” of the student in March 2020.
He also denied offering pupils his personal phone number but was found to have done so.
The TRA banned him from teaching indefinitely and concluded: “The panel finds that the conduct of Mr Bell fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.
“The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a finding of offering pupils his personal number, sending emails to meet when that pupil was not eligible to attend the school, attending the school gym with a pupil with no other staff or pupils present and unnecessary physical contact with a pupil, conduct found to be sexually motivated.”
Sandhurst School has been contacted for comment.
