Aaron Smith
Introduction
Aaron Smith was a PE teacher at Co-op Academy, Bebington. From 29 September to 3 October 2025, a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) heard that he had invented a career as a professional footballer, shown pupils a falsified team sheet, and submitted letters from a doctor who did not exist. The panel found every allegation proved and his conduct dishonest. On 8 October 2025, Sarah Buxcey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, prohibited Smith from teaching indefinitely.
Background Information
Smith worked as a sports coach for S4YC from September 2013 to July 2015, placed at Croxteth Primary School and Woodlands Primary School, Cheshire. Woodlands employed him directly as a PE teacher from September 2015 to 29 February 2016. On 15 June 2016 he applied for a teaching post at Bebington High Sports College — the school recorded in the decision as Co-op Academy, Bebington — and started there on 1 September 2016. In October 2021, questions about his absences led staff to examine the documents he had provided. The matter was referred to the TRA on 8 November 2022.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
A fabricated football career and a doctor who did not exist.
Smith admitted the facts of allegation 2: on his 1 July 2015 application to Woodlands Primary School, Cheshire, he claimed to have been a professional football player at Leicester City FC and a professional/apprentice football player at West Bromwich Albion FC. His cover letter said he had signed a professional contract with West Bromwich Albion and had represented England Schoolboys at under-15 level. The Football Association confirmed that “no match took place on the date in question” and that “Mr Smith had never represented England at any level”. The panel concluded that “this submission was false and had been fabricated by Mr Smith”.
In or around February 2016, Smith delivered a school assembly about his route to professional football, showing pupils props including a football shirt, medals, a team sheet and photos of himself in a youth team. After a parent searched online and found no trace of him, staff discovered he had edited his face into a picture of the youth team; the team sheet named the current squad with his name substituted for one player. Smith “resigned with immediate effect shortly after the formal meeting at Woodlands Primary School, Cheshire, leaving the school and its pupils without a teacher”.
The Bebington allegations repeated the pattern. On his 15 June 2016 application, Smith stated that from September 2013 to February 2016 he had worked in two part-time school roles through S4YC, when that employment had ended in July 2015 and Woodlands had then employed him directly. The panel found it “had been proven on the balance of probabilities that Mr Smith had provided false information to Co-op Academy Bebington”.
The second allegation concerned his absences. On 12 October 2021 Smith submitted special leave request forms covering six days of absence between October 2019 and October 2021, then a letter purportedly from “Dr Sheila Edwards” of a Liverpool psychotherapy and counselling service. Staff were suspicious: the letter was not on headed paper and contained a misspelled name. The service said Dr Edwards did not work there, the phone number did not exist, and emails purportedly from the doctor claimed she was on holiday and never produced the headed letter requested. Smith also produced messages purportedly from Gemma Dalton, described as a head cardiac nurse, and a nurse named Holly Green; Broadgreen and Royal Liverpool hospitals confirmed neither name existed on their files. The panel found that “Mr Smith had submitted false information and / or documents to the Co-op Academy Bebington”.
Smith denied the Bebington allegations and the dishonesty allegation, admitting dishonesty only in relation to the Woodlands matters; he was not present and was not represented at the hearing. Applying the test in Ivey v Genting Casinos, the panel concluded that “Mr Smith’s conduct as found proven at allegations 1(a), 1(b) and 2 was dishonest in that Mr Smith had knowingly submitted false information and created false documents”, and that “Mr Smith had acted deliberately and had knowingly provided false information and misled pupils”. It found both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The decision is a regulatory record and contains no press coverage; the reactions it documents came from inside the schools. The panel considered that “public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Smith was not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession”. It found that pressure to deliver the assembly “should not have led Mr Smith to fabricate props and did not outweigh the seriousness of Mr Smith’s dishonest conduct”. Finding that his behaviour “constituted a pattern of conduct” and that “Mr Smith’s lack of insight and remorse was a significant factor in forming that opinion”, it recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and a five-year review period. Sarah Buxcey made the order on 8 October 2025.
Current Status
Smith is prohibited from teaching indefinitely. The order states: “This means that Mr Aaron Smith is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.” The prohibition carries a five-year review period: “He may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 14 October 2030, 5 years from the date of this order at the earliest. This is not an automatic right to have the prohibition order removed.” If he applies, a fresh panel will consider whether the order should be set aside; without a successful application he remains prohibited. He also has a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The order ends Smith’s career in England’s schools for at least five years. The panel noted that “Mr Smith’s dishonesty is likely to have a lasting impact on staff at both the School and Woodlands Primary School, Cheshire”, and that his actions “were incompatible with safer recruitment protocols, noting that he failed to disclose the last school at which he had worked”. Any return to teaching requires a successful application to set the order aside, not before 14 October 2030.