Mark Fletcher

Introduction

Mark Fletcher was a classroom teacher at Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College in Swindon whose career ended in a lifetime ban from teaching. In October 2026 a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found proven, on the balance of probabilities, that he had sent a pupil a farewell card and letter carrying intimate language, emailed her dozens of times from his personal account in the middle of the night, driven to her home to meet her at around midnight, asked her not to tell anyone, and developed a personal relationship with her while she was still a student and a romantic and ultimately sexual relationship after she left. The panel found his conduct was of a sexual nature and sexually motivated. Fletcher, who was not present and not represented at the hearing, was prohibited from teaching indefinitely with no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration.

Background Information

The decision records that Fletcher, born 21 May 1981 and registered under teacher reference 0859059, commenced employment at the School on 1 September 2009; the allegations were framed against his employment as a Classroom Teacher between 1 September 2017 and 4 October 2023. In his own account to the School’s investigation he described a fifteen-year teaching career with no previous inappropriate conduct. The panel — Mrs Jane Gotschel (teacher panellist, in the chair), Mr Paul Hawkins and Mrs Alexandra Burton (lay panellists), with Ms Amy Tinsley of Birketts LLP as legal adviser and Ms Oyin Makinde of Browne Jacobson LLP presenting for the TRA — convened virtually on 5 to 7 October 2026, sitting in public. On or around 28 June 2023 Pupil A told the School she had been in a relationship with Fletcher; the matter went to the Local Authority Designated Officer, he was suspended on 3 July 2023, and his employment was terminated on 4 October 2023. The police investigated but took no formal action, and the case was referred to the TRA on 22 November 2023.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Banned for life — conduct found sexually motivated. A TRA panel found that Mark Fletcher exchanged late-night letters and emails with a sixth-form pupil, met her at her home around midnight, asked her not to tell anyone, and went on to form a romantic and sexual relationship with her after she left — conduct it found was of a sexual nature and sexually motivated.

The panel found proved that on or around 23 July 2019 Fletcher wrote to Pupil A that “It is rare to meet someone who changes who you are” and “You have had a real effect on me”, in a typed letter folded into a card reading “[PUPIL A] FAREWELL BUT NOT FAREWELL. YOU ARE AMAZING. DO NOT FORGET US. ALWAYS HERE. KEEP IN TOUCH! MR FLETCHER”. An email of 30 August 2019, sent at 1:44am, asked “Do you actually want to meet up and talk … Free most days from midnight … I can do tomorrow/the early hours of Saturday …”. Other emails went out at 2:38am, 4:04am and 3:50am, mostly in the middle of the night, at weekends and during holidays, from a personal address he told her he was using “before I get logged out of school email lol”.

Pupil A testified that she “snuck out” to meet Fletcher at around 1am on or around 30 August 2019 and sat talking with him until about 6am, and that during this first meeting he asked “You’re not gonna tell anyone are you”, to which — when she said she would not — he replied “good, I trust you”. The panel found that in seeking to conceal the meeting, Fletcher’s conduct lacked integrity and was knowingly dishonest, dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people. It further found, on Pupil A’s evidence, that a personal relationship built while she was a student developed into a romantic and, from December 2019, a sexual relationship after she left. Although the panel did not find the relationship romantic while she remained a pupil, it held that his conduct then “laid the foundations” for it and was “akin to grooming”, and that the proven conduct was done in pursuit of a future sexual relationship.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the conduct breached Teachers’ Standards on upholding public trust, observing proper boundaries and safeguarding pupils’ wellbeing, and amounted to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. It saw a strong public interest in safeguarding pupils given the sexual motivation and dishonesty findings, and noted that Fletcher had “sought to exploit his position of trust”. It found only limited evidence of insight or remorse — he focused instead on whether Pupil A was still on the school roll — and concluded there remained a significant risk of repetition. Witness A described a good teacher with strong subject knowledge, but the panel gave that limited weight. It recommended prohibition with immediate effect and no review period, the type of case — serious sexual misconduct using professional position to exploit — where the public interest weighs against any review.

Current Status

Decision maker Stuart Blomfield, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State on 9 October 2026, imposed the prohibition order, finding the misconduct “particularly serious as they include a finding of sexual motivation” and dishonesty. Mark Fletcher “is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England” and, in view of the seriousness of the findings, “shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach” — a permanent ban with no route back. He has a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice of the order.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Fletcher’s dismissal on 4 October 2023 ended his long tenure at Ridgeway, and the October 2026 order forecloses teaching in England permanently: no review period means the findings can never be revisited through the standard route, an outcome reserved for the gravest safeguarding cases. The police took no formal action, and no conviction is recorded; the ban rests on the panel’s civil-standard findings. The panel accepted there was some evidence of his ability as an educator, but held that his boundary failures, dishonesty and sexual motivation outweighed any interest in retaining him. No further public professional role for Fletcher is recorded.

Sources

• Department for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Mark Fletcher” — source