Frederick Peppert

Introduction

Frederick Peppert is a former supply teacher who worked through the teaching agency Vision for Education Ltd in Middlesborough, and who was banned from teaching for life by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) in August 2025. His case did not arise from misconduct in the classroom but from a decade of offending: between January 2012 and September 2022 he made indecent photographs and pseudo-photographs of children. Following a National Crime Agency investigation, he was convicted at Teesside Crown Court on 7 December 2023 of three counts of making indecent images, including Category A material — the most serious classification — and a TRA panel found the allegations proved, leading the Secretary of State’s decision maker to prohibit him from teaching indefinitely.

Background Information

The TRA decision records Peppert as a supply teacher employed by Vision for Education Ltd, the former employer named on the determination. He was born on 13 March 1958, making him 67 at the time of the panel’s decision, and his teacher reference number is recorded as 8145865. Beyond the agency supply role, the published decision gives no further detail about his teaching career.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Peppert’s convictions were entered in a criminal court and are a matter of record: on 7 December 2023 Teesside Crown Court convicted him on three counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, and the panel noted that he pleaded guilty to these offences. In the TRA proceedings he admitted the allegations in his notice of proceedings form signed on 2 May 2025 and again in a statement of agreed facts signed on 2 July 2025. The panel therefore dealt with admitted, adjudicated facts rather than contested claims.

Following an investigation by the National Crime Agency, Peppert was arrested and subsequently convicted on three separate counts of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, contrary to section 1(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978. The offending spanned more than ten years: between 21 January 2012 and 2 September 2022 he made two Category A indecent images of a child, two Category B images, and twenty-six Category C images. The panel accepted a certificate of conviction from Teesside Crown Court, dated 19 September 2024, as conclusive proof of the conviction and the facts necessarily implied by it.

The TRA case was resolved without a hearing: the TRA agreed to Peppert’s request that the allegations be considered without one, and he waived any right to ten weeks’ notice of the meeting. The panel — chaired by lay panellist Dara Islam, with teacher panellists Louisa Munton and Jessica Sheldrick — convened by virtual meeting on 4 August 2025, in private and without Peppert, any representative, or the presenting officer. It considered the allegations set out in the notice of meeting dated 22 July 2025, along with the statement of agreed facts signed by Peppert on 2 July 2025 and by Jon Walters of Brabners LLP on behalf of the TRA the following day.

Among the documents before the panel was an email from Peppert dated 15 May 2024, which the panel noted was hearsay but admitted, to be weighed carefully and cautiously. In that letter to the TRA, Peppert stated that his behaviour is “unacceptable”, wrote that he had regretted his “betrayal of trust with colleagues, past and present and more importantly students past and present”, and said “I will have to live with the consequences of my actions for the rest of my life”. The panel found allegations 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c) proved, found that the facts amounted to a conviction of a relevant offence, and identified breaches of the Teachers’ Standards relating to public trust, safeguarding pupils’ wellbeing and proper professional boundaries. It observed that the offences involved “multiple counts over a prolonged period; seemingly 10 years”, and noted that parts of the statutory guidance Keeping children safe in education were engaged.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Peppert was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on 8 January 2024 to 6 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, with a rehabilitation activity requirement of 30 days and 150 hours of unpaid work. He was also required to register with the police on the Sex Offenders Register for 7 years, with a sexual harm prevention order in place during that time. At sentencing, Judge Adkin referred to strong personal mitigation from “glowing” character references.

Before the TRA panel, the mitigation carried little weight: the panel said it was not aware of any mitigating circumstances, noting that the remorse in his email dated only from after the offences were discovered and was not “relevant or sufficient mitigation”. It found he had demonstrated no meaningful insight or remorse, noting in particular that it had no evidence of any remorse at all towards the children who were the victims of his criminal activity, and that the pattern of offending over a long period indicated “a very serious risk of repetition”. The panel recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period, and the decision maker, Sarah Buxcey, agreed by decision dated 6 August 2025: Peppert is prohibited from teaching indefinitely, is not entitled to apply for restoration, and the findings were weighed as particularly serious because they involved “the seriousness of the findings involving indecent images of children and the lack of full insight or remorse”.

Current Status

The prohibition order is in force, taking effect from the date it was served on Peppert, following the decision of 6 August 2025. He is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. He had a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of being given notice of the order; that window lapsed in early September 2025, and with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration, the ban is permanent.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition order permanently ends Peppert’s ability to work as a teacher in England, closing off the supply teaching work he did through Vision for Education Ltd and barring him from any teaching role in schools, sixth form colleges, relevant youth accommodation or children’s homes. The ban stands alongside the consequences of his criminal sentence: the suspended prison term, the seven-year Sex Offenders Register requirement and the sexual harm prevention order imposed in January 2024. The decision maker found that the public interest in protecting pupils and maintaining confidence in the profession outweighed his interests, giving less weight to his contribution to the profession given the seriousness of the offending and his lack of full insight or remorse.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Mr Frederick Peppert: Professional conduct panel meeting outcome” — panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State, published August 2025. source