Mr Daniel Treamer

Introduction

Mr Daniel Treamer is a former teacher of ICT and pastoral lead for years 9 and 10 at Stewards Academy, part of the Stewards Academy Trust in Essex, where he began his role on 1 October 2018. A Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel found he engaged in or developed an inappropriate relationship with a pupil known as Pupil A: giving her his phone number, communicating with her via FaceTime and social media including Instagram and Snapchat, and arranging to meet her on 20 March 2020, when he collected her from a friend’s house in his car and transported her to another friend’s house. The panel also found that conduct sexually motivated. He was prohibited from teaching indefinitely on 1 February 2024, with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

The school was notified of the allegation that Treamer was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Pupil A on 23 March 2020, the first Monday of the national Covid-19 lockdown. An investigation and LADO referral followed. Essex Police alerted the school on 24 March 2020, advised there would be no further police action on 30 March 2020, and after further concerns about his social media use Treamer was suspended on 9 April 2020. He attended an investigation meeting on 20 April 2020, submitted his resignation on 6 May 2020 to take effect from 31 August 2020, and a disciplinary hearing was held on 7 May 2020. He was then referred to the TRA. At the TRA hearing he was not present and was not represented; the hearing took place in public and was recorded.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted misconduct. Mr Treamer admitted allegations 1 and 2 and the finding of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in a signed Statement of Agreed and Disputed Facts dated 4 November 2021, but denied allegation 3. He was absent from the public hearing, which proceeded in his absence, and the panel found allegation 3 — sexual motivation — proved on the balance of probabilities.

The admitted facts were these. Treamer provided Pupil A with his personal and work phone number, allowing her to contact him. He communicated with her on social media, including Instagram and Snapchat, on several occasions, including a pupil-created group chat he joined on the final day of school. On 20 March 2020, with pupils sent home as lockdown began, he contacted Pupil A, collected her by car from a friend’s house and transported her to another friend’s house; both friends were pupils at the school. He also admitted allegation 2: that he failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries by allowing pupils to follow him on Instagram and failing to ensure his privacy settings prevented pupils from interacting with him, contrary to the school’s staff code of conduct. He accepted the relationship was outside appropriate boundaries between a teacher and a pupil.

Allegation 3 — that this conduct was sexually motivated — he denied, and it fell to the panel on Pupil A’s oral evidence. It found her a credible and truthful witness overall, while noting some of her evidence was not completely plausible. Pupil A described flirting from September to December 2019, being given his number on a post-it note, setting up his Snapchat account on his phone on 14 February 2020, daily FaceTime and Snapchat contact — sometimes into the early hours, once from around 10pm to 5am — being told he loved her, and being called pet names including “poppet” and “worldy”. She said Treamer instigated the meeting on 20 March 2020; his account that she called him because she was upset was rejected as a lie by her, and the panel preferred her clear, categorical and consistent evidence over his differing accounts. It found his explanation that he gave her a lift out of sorrow for a pupil whose final year had been cut short “unpersuasive and not credible”.

The panel was persuaded Treamer had a particular interest in and focus upon Pupil A, whose interest in him came close to infatuation — an interest he encouraged rather than discouraged, deepening the relationship despite knowing of her feelings and her circumstances. It concluded the conduct was in pursuit of some form of future sexual relationship, describing not a one-off occasion but an episode of inappropriate conduct and a clear escalation. It declined to find he derived sexual gratification from the proven conduct, and noted no sexual activity ever took place. His dismissal of the events as a “silly mistake” was rejected. Allegation 3 was found proved, and the conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel weighed real mitigation — no previous regulatory or disciplinary proceedings, unchallenged ability as an educator, a track record of promotion and a staff governor role, a popular and hard-working reputation, limited engagement with the TRA and some admissions, and a stressful and difficult personal time — against serious aggravating factors: deliberate breaches, a protracted course of misconduct towards a pupil with known vulnerabilities, sexually motivated conduct, and a clear and ongoing impact on Pupil A’s health and wellbeing. His description of the behaviour as “silly on both their parts” was treated as evidencing a fundamental misunderstanding of his position and a failure to accept responsibility. Finding his actions fundamentally incompatible with being a teacher and noting no evidence of insight or reflection, the panel recommended immediate prohibition without a review period.

Current Status

Treamer is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Because of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, he is not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — the prohibition is permanent with no route to review. The order takes effect from the date on which it is served on him, and he has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice. The panel’s findings, including that his conduct was sexually motivated, stand as the published record against his name.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Treamer’s teaching career — which had already ended with his 2020 resignation under investigation — is now permanently closed by a prohibition he can never ask to have reviewed. The panel acknowledged his record of promotion, his staff governor role and his popularity with colleagues, and it did not question his competence as a teacher; none of it mattered against the findings that he cultivated a vulnerable pupil’s infatuation, moved the relationship onto personal phones and social media, and collected her by car during lockdown. The decision maker placed considerable weight on the sexually motivated finding and on his lack of insight and full remorse, and the ban carries no review period: there is no application he can ever make to set it aside.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Daniel Treamer” — source