Ashley Nixon

Introduction

Ashley Nixon is a former teacher at Peters Hill Primary School in Brierley Hill, whose career in the classroom ended with a lifetime ban. A Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found in 2024 that, while working as a class teacher, he obtained the phone numbers of two former pupils who were still of school age, communicated with them by telephone, Snapchat and Instagram, sent one child a photograph of his buttocks and a video showing his genitals, asked the other for an image of his bottom, and invited the children to his new home. The panel found the conduct was sexually motivated and amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The decision maker for the Secretary of State then prohibited Nixon from teaching indefinitely, with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Nixon was employed at Peters Hill Primary School as a class teacher from September 2016 to October 2022. The case arose on 27 September 2021, when a member of the public contacted the school to allege that Nixon had been communicating with former pupils, referred to in the decision as Child 1 and Child 2. He was interviewed by West Midlands Police on 29 September 2021 and suspended by the school on 5 October 2021. In March 2022 the police investigation closed with no further action, and the matter was referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency on 13 October 2022.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Panel findings, not criminal convictions. The police investigation closed with no further action and nothing here is a court conviction. The panel’s findings — including that the images were sent deliberately and were sexually motivated — were made on the balance of probabilities after a contested hearing.

The allegations were heard at a public, recorded hearing at Cheylesmore House in Coventry on 22 and 23 July 2024, with a further virtual session on 29 October 2024. Nixon admitted obtaining the telephone numbers of Child 1 and Child 2 and communicating with them by telephone, Snapchat and Instagram. At the outset of the hearing he also admitted sending a photograph showing his buttocks and a video showing his genitals to Child 1, a former pupil who was still of school age, on 27 September 2021, but claimed the images had been intended for an adult female friend and had reached the child in error. He denied sending images to Child 2, denied asking Child 2 for a picture of his bottom, and denied inviting the children to his home. He gave oral evidence by video link, the panel having accepted an application made on the ground of a recent sporting injury.

The panel rejected the error explanation. It reasoned that the photograph and video had to be sent in two separate actions, that Nixon was an experienced Snapchat user who knew both children were among his contacts, and that he had earlier received and failed to report an inappropriate photograph from Child 1. Child 2, who gave evidence behind a screen as a child witness, told the panel and the police that Nixon had sent images of his buttocks on separate occasions and had asked Child 2 for a picture of his bottom; the panel found Child 2 a credible and plausible witness. Nixon pointed to the police seizure of his devices, which produced no images, and to a Football Association investigation report recording “no evidence to draw upon in relation to the second child”. The panel was not persuaded, noting that Snapchat messages disappear after opening, so their absence proved nothing. Finding every particular proven, the panel applied the Basson and Haris authorities, held the conduct sexual in nature and sexually motivated, and found the offence of sexual communication with a child relevant under the government’s advice on teacher prohibition.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Nixon was suspended on 5 October 2021 and remained employed at Peters Hill Primary School until October 2022; the decision records his employment simply as running from September 2016 to October 2022. The police investigation had closed in March 2022 with no further action, meaning no charge, conviction, sexual harm prevention order or notification requirement ever arose, and the case reached the regulator solely by referral. The panel found the proven facts amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, breaching the Teachers’ Standards on observing proper boundaries and acting within statutory duties. It acknowledged character testimonials describing Nixon as honest, hardworking and dedicated, but found very limited evidence of insight or remorse and concluded he had failed to recognise the potential impact of his actions on the two children and their families. It recommended prohibition with immediate effect and no review period.

Current Status

On 31 October 2024 Sarah Buxcey, the decision maker acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, prohibited Nixon from teaching indefinitely, following the panel’s determination of 29 October 2024. The order carries no review period, and the decision states: “I have decided that Mr Nixon shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.” Nixon is therefore barred from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England for life. Buxcey gave considerable weight to the seriousness of the findings and to the “lack of full insight or remorse”, which she judged to create a risk of repetition putting pupils’ future wellbeing at risk. Nixon retains a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition ended a teaching career spent entirely at Peters Hill Primary School, which had run from September 2016 to October 2022, and permanently forecloses classroom work in England. Because the police took no further action, Nixon has no criminal conviction, and no sexual harm prevention order or notification requirements flow from the case; the lifetime ban is purely regulatory. No public response from Nixon beyond his evidence to the panel is recorded in the decision. The testimonials to his ability as a teacher did not alter the outcome, the decision maker having concluded that findings of sexually motivated conduct involving children required permanent prohibition.

Sources

• TRA, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Ashley Nixon” — source