Mr James William Rich

Introduction

Mr James William Rich is a former deputy headteacher of Leicester Grammar School who was prohibited from teaching indefinitely in January 2024 after a professional conduct panel found that, while a pupil was still at the school, he failed to maintain professional boundaries with her, and that shortly after she left he engaged in sexual activity with her. Rich denied the allegations, did not attend the hearing, and was not represented; the panel found the key findings proved on testimony from pupils and documentary evidence including an affectionate card he sent the former pupil. The decision maker for the Secretary of State imposed a two-year review period, accepting the panel’s view that he posed no particular risk of repeating the misconduct.

Background Information

Rich was deputy headteacher at Leicester Grammar School, an independent school in the city. The allegations concerned a pupil referred to as Pupil A during her time at the school, including its sixth form, and the period after she left in 2018. The panel convened at Cheylesmore House in Coventry from 9 to 15 January 2024, sitting in public; Rich was neither present nor represented. In written representations he described the allegations and charges against him as false, said they had caused “untold damage” to him as a person and affected every area of his life, and the decision record notes the panel had regard to his account alongside the evidence of the school’s witnesses.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Sexual activity with a former pupil. Regulatory findings proved on the balance of probabilities after a contested hearing held in the teacher’s absence. No criminal conviction is recorded in the decision.

The panel found that while Pupil A was still a pupil, Rich failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries: he spent excessive periods of time with her outside what lessons required, gave her gifts and snacks he did not give other pupils, shared private details of his family life, and made excessively favourable comments about her to other pupils. Evidence from fellow pupils described the relationship growing more frequent and brazen across their final four years at the school, including extensive “debriefs” in his office on a private corridor that most students needed reception permission to reach, and time together on school trips at the expense of her friendships. Rich selected her, unusually, for one-to-one sixth-form tuition.

The panel further found, on allegation 2, that shortly after Pupil A left the school he engaged in sexual activity with her on one or more occasions. The evidence it weighed included the account of a family member who became concerned in August 2018 after Pupil A relayed that “James wants to know if you’re okay with it?”, confronted Rich on 24 August 2018 and was assured nothing inappropriate was occurring, then found a yellow card he had sent the former pupil marking “one year”, addressed to “Hello gorgeous”, signed off “xxx” with lines including “don’t miss me too much (impossible!)”. The panel found the boundary findings were sexually motivated conduct of a sexual nature.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found a strong public interest in safeguarding pupils given the finding of sexual activity with a pupil shortly after she left the school, and concluded that public confidence in the profession would be seriously weakened if such conduct went untreated. It judged his behaviour outside what could reasonably be tolerated and an abuse of the trust, knowledge and influence derived from his senior position. Weighing mitigation, the panel noted there was no particular risk of Rich repeating the misconduct, since the conduct arose from a specific relationship rather than a pattern of targeting pupils, and it recommended prohibition with a two-year review period so he could demonstrate insight and remorse. The decision maker agreed that two years was proportionate, while noting the lack of evidence of insight and remorse in the findings.

Current Status

The decision was made by Marc Cavey on behalf of the Secretary of State on 18 January 2024, following the panel’s determination of 15 January 2024. Mr James William Rich 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 two years from the date of the order at the earliest, and an application is not an automatic right to have the order removed; without a successful application he remains banned for life. The order took effect from service on him, with a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A deputy headship at one of Leicester’s best-known independent schools ended in a lifetime teaching ban, with the panel’s findings resting on the testimony of the pupil community he supervised: students who watched the relationship with Pupil A grow from tuition into something else, and a family member whose discovered card punctured his denials. The two-year review window opened in January 2026, and any application would be heard against findings the panel reached without ever hearing him answer them, since he chose not to attend, a silence the decision maker weighed when noting the absence of demonstrated insight.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr James William Rich” — source