Christopher Reene

Introduction

Christopher Reene is a former teacher at Ratton School in Eastbourne who was banned from teaching indefinitely in December 2023 after a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found all eight allegations against him proven. The panel concluded that between the end of 2019 and September 2020 he developed an inappropriate relationship with a child who was not a pupil at his school and had no connection to it, sending her money, gifts and a stream of personal messages, and that the conduct was sexually motivated and, in one respect, dishonest. On behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, the decision maker imposed a prohibition order with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Reene joined Ratton School Academy Trust on 1 September 1999 and taught there for more than two decades. In January 2020 he first began communicating with Child A, a child unconnected to the school. Child A’s parents reported concerns about the contact to the police on 21 June 2020; the police took no further action. The matter nonetheless moved through the Local Authority Designated Officer, a school investigation, a disciplinary hearing in February 2021 and an appeal, before Ratton School referred him to the Teaching Regulation Agency on 4 May 2021.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. In November 2023 a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found all eight allegations against Mr Reene proven, including that he developed an inappropriate relationship with a child who was unconnected to his school, sent her money and gifts, and then lied about deleting the evidence. The panel found the relationship sexually motivated and his account of it dishonest. He was not criminally charged; the police took the case no further.

The conduct took place outside school, across WhatsApp, Twitch and TikTok, beginning around the end of 2019. The panel found the messages regularly contained heart emojis and expressions of love, many sent very late at night or early in the morning, and that Reene sent a topless photo of himself. He gave Child A his personal telephone number, told her he was a teacher at Ratton School and sent a photo of himself with his parents, in breach of the school’s online safety and safeguarding policies. He sent her approximately £700, through Twitch Bits and PayPal payments her mother traced to £748.38, including single payments of £95 and £160, and posted gifts including two hats and a drinks bottle.

The relationship continued against her parents’ direct wishes. After they asked him to stop in September 2020 he apologised and gave assurances the contact would cease, but Father A later found WhatsApp messages from Reene dated 31 January 2022, in which Reene said he was nervous about speaking to Child A and “might be banned from teaching”. The panel found he continued the contact even after he was aware of the referral to the TRA and after Child A’s parents asked him to stop. Mother A told the panel the family sold their home and relocated because Reene knew their address.

At the first investigation meeting on 6 October 2020, Reene said he had deleted all evidence of his communication with Child A, yet he produced paper copies of selected messages at the second meeting, and the panel found that claim dishonest. Witness B, a school witness, described “a lonely man who exhibited behaviours with the hallmarks of grooming” who was “trying to forge an emotional connection with the child”. In his written statement Reene said his mantra was “not to harm but to protect”, called his conduct “silly” and said he considered the additional safeguarding training the school gave him “laughable”. The panel determined that his submissions did not show any insight or remorse for his actions, and noted a “high risk of reoccurrence” because he did not accept that there was anything wrong in the relationship he had formed with a child. Finding no plausible innocent explanation, it concluded the conduct was sexually motivated and could potentially amount to sexual misconduct involving a child.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequences ran through the school and the regulator rather than the courts. Sussex police took no further action after the June 2020 report, and Reene was never charged. Ratton School pressed on: an investigation through the autumn of 2020, a disciplinary hearing on 24 February 2021, an outcome letter, an appeal heard on 31 March 2021, and a referral to the TRA on 4 May 2021. By the time the panel convened in November 2023, the decision records that Reene was living abroad and teaching at a school in Malta, which Mother A had contacted to inform of the allegations in October 2022. He did not attend the virtual hearing, and the panel found his absence voluntary. Character references showing that some parents thought highly of him did not, in the panel’s view, outweigh the very serious safeguarding failings.

Current Status

On 5 December 2023 Sarah Buxcey, acting as decision maker on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, decided that a prohibition order was proportionate and in the public interest, citing the seriousness of the findings, the lack of full insight or remorse and the risk of repetition. Reene is prohibited from teaching indefinitely, with no review period, meaning he cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. In view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, she also decided he shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order takes effect from the date it is served, and he has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A teaching career of more than two decades at a single Eastbourne school ended with a lifetime ban and no route back. The findings of sexually motivated conduct involving a child were the reason no review period was recommended or granted, closing off even the ordinary possibility of applying to have the prohibition reviewed. The published decision notes that Reene had relocated abroad and was teaching at a school in Malta when the case reached the panel. Apart from his written statement to the panel, no public response from him is recorded in the decision.

Sources

• TRA, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Christopher Reene” — source