Kieran Atter

Introduction

Kieran Atter was a teacher at the Hayes School in Bromley, Kent, employed from 30 August 2022 until 9 February 2023. In January 2023, he was arrested for possession of indecent images of children, and in May 2024 he was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court for three counts of making and two counts of distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children. After he admitted the convictions as relevant offences, a Teaching Regulation Agency panel recommended, and the Secretary of State’s decision maker imposed, an indefinite prohibition order with no review period, barring him from teaching for life.

Background Information

Atter worked as a teacher at the Hayes School, Bromley, Kent between 30 August 2022 and 9 February 2023. His employment ended within weeks of his arrest on 5 January 2023. The published decision does not otherwise detail his career history beyond this post.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Atter’s convictions were entered in a criminal court and are a matter of record. He admitted both that he had been convicted of the specified offences and that they were relevant offences, and he signed a statement of agreed facts to that effect on 9 May 2025; the panel also had before it a certificate of conviction from Woolwich Crown Court.

On 5 January 2023, Atter was arrested for possession of indecent images of children. He later admitted to accessing indecent images of children using Twitter, saving images on his phone and sharing them with others. In the statement of agreed facts he accepted that a number of the images were in the highest category, with some being moving photographs, and that when distributing photographs or pseudo-photographs he engaged in sexualised conversation regarding children. He also accepted that he had admitted to having a sexual interest in children.

Atter pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court, where the certificate of conviction records his conviction on 23 February 2024, and on 1 May 2024 he was committed for sentence to Woolwich Crown Court. He was convicted of three counts of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of children on 5 January 2023, and two counts of distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between December 2022 and 4 January 2023, all contrary to section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978. The panel found allegations 1a and 1b proved.

The panel convened by virtual meeting on 20 August 2025, considering the case without a hearing at Atter’s own request and in his absence, as the TRA had agreed in advance of the meeting. The panel found his conduct breached the Teachers’ Standards on observing proper boundaries with pupils, safeguarding pupils’ well-being, and upholding fundamental British values. It found the convictions amounted to a relevant offence, noting that offences involving making or distributing indecent images of children are likely to be considered relevant offences under the Advice, and that his behaviour “ultimately led to a sentence of 10 months imprisonment, (albeit that it was suspended), which was indicative of the seriousness of the offences committed”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The published decision contains no press coverage; the case is documented through the regulatory record alone. On 1 May 2024, Woolwich Crown Court sentenced Atter to a suspended sentence of imprisonment of 10 months, a rehabilitation activity requirement, an unpaid work requirement, a restraining order, a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and a requirement to sign the Sexual Offenders Register for 10 years. The Sexual Harm Prevention Order prohibits him from having any unsupervised contact or communication with any person under 18, other than contact that is inadvertent and not reasonably avoidable in the course of lawful daily life, or contact with both the express consent of the child’s parent or guardian, informed of the order’s terms, and the express approval of the Public Protection Unit for the area in which he resides.

The panel found a strong public interest in the safeguarding and wellbeing of pupils “given the serious findings of making and distributing indecent images of children”, and concluded that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if such conduct were not treated with the utmost seriousness. The panel, weighing his previously good history and guilty pleas against the public interest, recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period. On 29 August 2025 Sarah Buxcey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State, imposed the order: Atter is prohibited from teaching indefinitely, with no review period, and shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The determination is dated 20 August 2025.

Current Status

Atter is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The order takes effect from the date on which it is served on him. Because no review period was set and he was held not entitled to apply for restoration, the ban is permanent. Atter had a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days from the date he was given notice of the order; that window has long since lapsed.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A teaching career at the Hayes School that lasted just over five months ended with his arrest in January 2023, and the prohibition order forecloses any return to the profession in England. The decision maker placed considerable weight on the seriousness of the conviction for making and distributing indecent images of children and on the lack of evidence of full insight or remorse, which she found meant there was “some risk of the repetition of this behaviour”. Beyond the classroom, he remains subject to the 10-year Sexual Offenders Register requirement and the Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed in May 2024.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Kieran Atter” — panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State, published August 2025. source