Bradley Harris

Introduction

Bradley Harris, a former science teacher at King Alfred School in Highbridge, Somerset, was prohibited from teaching indefinitely after a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) professional conduct panel found he had crossed professional boundaries with a pupil — exchanging social media messages, taking part in an Instagram phone call, and meeting the pupil outside school — and then contacted her while suspended despite explicit instructions not to. The panel’s decision was published in September 2026, roughly three years after Harris resigned from the school and the referral reached the regulator. The ban applies across schools, sixth form colleges, children’s homes and other education settings in England.

Background Information

Harris taught science at King Alfred School, a Highbridge secondary school run by the Priority Learning Trust. The allegations considered by the panel concerned his conduct between November 2022 and April 2023. He resigned from his post in July 2023, and in September of that year the school made a referral to the TRA — the regulator that investigates and, where justified, prohibits teachers in England. The school acted on its concerns as soon as they were raised, suspended Harris, and instructed him not to contact the pupil; his breach of that instruction became one of the panel’s central findings.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Boundary findings, sexual allegations not proven. The panel found serious safeguarding misconduct proved, but expressly did NOT find proven the allegations that Harris kissed the pupil or that any conduct was sexual in nature. Both the findings and the acquittals are part of the record.

The panel found proven that Harris exchanged social media messages with a pupil — identified as Student 1 — and took part in at least one Instagram phone call with her. It also found he met the pupil outside school, a direct breach of the boundaries that exist precisely to keep teacher-pupil contact inside supervised educational settings. Further proven allegations included that he bought the pupil a bottle of water during a school trip, asked other pupils to leave his classroom so he could be alone with Student 1, and failed to prevent the pupil from sitting at his desk or in his chair during lessons.

Two findings aggravated the case beyond the pattern of contact itself. First, Harris failed to make a timely safeguarding referral — the reporting duty that exists so concerns about pupil welfare reach the right people quickly. Second, and the panel treated this as serious: he contacted the pupil while he was suspended from the school and despite instructions not to do so, a “deliberate decision” that showed disregard for the safeguarding process already under way.

The panel did not find proven the allegations that Harris exchanged phone numbers with the pupil, allowed her into his car, kissed her, or that any of the conduct was sexual in nature. Its conclusion was nonetheless that the proven conduct — “communicating with a student on social media, the failure to follow basic safeguarding procedures, the one-to-one interaction with a student and the deliberate decision to contact Student 1 whilst suspended” — amounted to misconduct “of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”, constituting unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The panel recommended a prohibition order, citing “a strong public interest consideration in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils” and warning that public confidence in the profession would be weakened if such conduct were not treated seriously.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The Secretary of State’s decision maker accepted the recommendation and imposed an indefinite prohibition order, barring Harris from teaching in any school, sixth form college, children’s home or other education setting in England. The case was reported locally by Burnham-On-Sea.com on 30 September 2026, when the panel’s published report became available. King Alfred School’s trust said: “As soon as concerns were initially raised regarding this individual, the school took immediate action” — a statement underlining that the school’s own safeguarding response predated and fed the regulatory case. No public response from Harris to the findings is recorded.

Current Status

Harris is prohibited from teaching indefinitely. He may apply for a review of the order from July 2028, but removal is not automatic and would require a fresh panel’s approval. The not-proven allegations — the kiss, the car, sexual intent — remain on the record as acquittals, defining the outer edge of what the regulator could establish on the civil standard.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition ends Harris’s teaching career in England unless a future review succeeds, and the indefinite terms reflect the panel’s view that his breaches — secret social-media contact, an out-of-school meeting, and messaging a pupil while suspended — struck at the safeguarding framework rather than at a single rule. The published report attaches those findings permanently to his name: any employer in education checking the TRA record will find the prohibition and its reasons. His resignation in July 2023 means he left the profession before the findings were made, but the order forecloses re-entry elsewhere.

Sources

• *Burnham-On-Sea.com, “King Alfred School teacher in Highbridge banned from teaching over safeguarding issue,” Sep 30, 2026 — source