James Samways
Introduction
James Samways is a former part-time Boys’ Sports Assistant and co-curricular coordinator at Our Lady’s Abingdon in Oxfordshire who was convicted of fraud after falsifying a letter from his school so he could keep working with children, and who has been banned from teaching for at least five years. Samways, 26, was told by a childcare company that he could not work for it, then forwarded the company an altered version of a letter his school had sent him, changing its contents. He received a fine from the magistrates’ court, and a Teaching Regulation Agency panel’s five-year review period was imposed by the Secretary of State, meaning he cannot apply to have the ban lifted before January 2031.
Background Information
Samways joined Our Lady’s Abingdon Trustees Limited on 1 September 2017 as a part-time Boys’ Sports Assistant and co-curricular coordinator. He was completing his PGCE at the school but dropped out of the course in December 2021. The panel found he was carrying out regulated activity — PE teaching, working as a textiles technician, and running co-curricular activities unsupervised. In February 2022 he applied to work for a sports coaching and holiday childcare company running clubs and camps for children aged 4 to 13, and was informed he could not work for it. He resigned from the school on 18 February 2022.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Conviction, admitted. Samways pleaded guilty and admitted the conviction before the TRA on signed agreed facts; the specific contents of the altered letter are redacted in the published decision.
On 23 February 2022, five days after resigning, Samways forwarded to the childcare company a letter that Our Lady’s Abingdon had sent him — a letter which, in its original form, confirmed something to his detriment despite him no longer being an employee. He amended the letter before sending it, changing its contents so that he could work with children there. The fraud was discovered: he was arrested on 1 March 2022 and investigated by police.
At Oxfordshire Magistrates’ Court on 6 December 2022, Samways was convicted of fraud by false representation contrary to the Fraud Act 2006, having pleaded guilty. He was ordered to pay a £600 fine, a £60 surcharge and £85 in costs. The panel treated the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof of the offence and found the allegation proved.
The panel’s concern centred on what the deception was for. It found the fraudulent act was done with the intent to continue working with children at a time when Samways knew he could not, and noted his own admission in the agreed facts that the offence was likely to impact the safety or security of pupils or members of the public — placing children at potential risk of harm. On insight, the panel found “very little evidence of remorse”, concluded that “naivety was an insufficient excuse to explain his actions at a time when he should have known that doctoring a letter from the School was wrong”, and noted that he attempted to deflect and blame others for his actions. His own account to the panel called it a naive mistake: “I have learnt my lesson from this and feel very ashamed for doing so.”
The case was decided at a private meeting on 2 December 2025 on the basis of a statement of agreed facts signed on 12 March 2025, without a hearing, at Samways’s own request.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The criminal consequences were modest — a fine, a surcharge and costs — but the regulatory consequences were not. The panel found breaches of the Teachers’ Standards on proper boundaries, safeguarding and the rule of law, and breaches of the duties in Keeping Children Safe in Education, and recommended a prohibition order with a review period of five years. Decision maker David Oatley, acting for the Secretary of State on 4 December 2025, imposed the order and fixed the review period at five years, citing the lack of evidence of insight and remorse and the resulting risk of repetition.
Current Status
Samways is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. He may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 8 January 2031 — five years from the date of the order. This is not an automatic right: if he applies, a panel will decide whether the ban should be lifted, and without a successful application he remains prohibited indefinitely. The determination is dated 2 December 2025 and the outcome was published on 15 January 2026. No appeal was reported.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Samways was at the start of a working life in school sport and pastoral activity when the conviction intervened: eight years at Our Lady’s Abingdon, a PGCE attempt, and regulated activity with children all ended in the space of a month in early 2022. The panel’s reasoning — that a man who doctored a school letter to keep working with children he had been barred from working with had placed them at potential risk — means the door back into that world stays shut until at least January 2031, and even then only if a fresh panel is persuaded the ban should go.