James Ndungu

Introduction

James Ndungu is a former teacher at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic School in Worcester who was prohibited from teaching indefinitely in June 2023 after a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel confirmed his convictions for two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. He set up a chat-site profile under the name “blackteacheruk” and exchanged sexual messages with someone who told him she was 14. Decision maker Sarah Buxcey imposed a lifetime ban with no review period and no right to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Ndungu worked at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic School in Worcester. On 5 October 2020 he began communicating through a chat-site profile with a person who told him she was 14, responding “am okay with ur age” when she disclosed it. He was suspended from his teaching role on 21 October 2020 and resigned on 22 February 2021, telling the college in his resignation letter that he had decided to try and clear his name. On 17 August 2021 he was convicted of the attempted-communication counts, contrary to section 15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence, contrary to section 14 of the same Act.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Ndungu admitted both the facts and that they amounted to convictions of relevant offences; the panel accepted the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof. The recipient of his messages was in fact an undercover officer, not a child.

The panel’s findings record his admissions: he exchanged messages asking “Are u horny” and “Are u feeling sexual”, sent messages about her sexual arousal and suggesting he wanted to touch her nipples, and when she said nobody knew she was chatting with him he replied “It is our secret” and, asked why, answered “Ur under 16 and am older”. The messages moved to WhatsApp, and the arranging conviction reflected the plan to meet. The panel found the conduct was designed to groom the person to agree to attend his house, whilst his wife was at work and his children asleep, amounting to grooming for physical sexual abuse. He received a suspended sentence of imprisonment, to run concurrently across the counts, at the crown court.

Public Reaction and Consequences

No press coverage attaches to the case; the published decision is the public record. The consequences moved through the school — suspension within weeks of the offending coming to light, then his resignation — and through the criminal courts to the regulator. The panel noted the suspended custodial sentence as indicative of seriousness, and it treated the undercover-officer defence consideration soberly: the offences were complete on his conduct toward the person he believed was a child. In his TRA referral response of April 2022 he confirmed he admitted the allegations, and the case proceeded on the agreed-facts route with no contested hearing.

Current Status

Ndungu is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The decision maker further decided that he shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The determination is dated 12 June 2023, with Buxcey’s order dated 14 June 2023, effective from service. He retains a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order; the published record shows none was filed. His “clear his name” resignation rationale is contradicted by the admissions in the published decision.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Ndungu’s case shows the regulator treating online child-targeting by a serving teacher as categorically disqualifying: the profile name itself announced his profession, and the messages — the age acknowledgment, the “our secret” framing, the meeting plan timed to his household’s routine — left the panel with findings of active grooming for physical abuse. The suspended sentence did not soften the professional outcome because the Advice grades the offence type, not the custodial outcome. With no review and no restoration right, the lifetime ban forecloses the teaching career that his resignation letter had already, in effect, conceded.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr James Ndungu” — source