Matthew Stendall

Introduction

Matthew Stendall is a former teacher at Westbury Academy in Nottingham who was prohibited from teaching for life in September 2023 over the treatment of a pupil in his class: on 7 December 2020 he placed Pupil A into a headlock, then kept the hold as he walked the boy down a corridor past staff and pupils, before returning to his classroom and threatening the rest of the class that they would be next. Stendall admitted the three factual allegations, but the case still went to a contested hearing — held in his absence — where a panel tested his explanations against eyewitness testimony and found them wanting. The Secretary of State’s decision maker confirmed a prohibition order with no review period, citing the violence, the threats against other pupils, and a lack of insight or remorse.

Background Information

Stendall worked as a teacher at Westbury Academy. He had been trained in TeamTeach — the de-escalation and physical-intervention programme — in December 2019, passing the assessment: the training’s evidence was that a headlock is not part of TeamTeach practice and staff are not taught to put a child in one, with restrictive physical intervention framed strictly as a last resort. The December 2020 incident occurred at a pupil-to-adult ratio of 1:3, and a witness colleague testified that Pupil A — described as “sulky” but not violent, and not a pupil known to need physical intervention — would have left the room calmly had Stendall not intervened. The decision also records that Stendall had been subject to previous disciplinary proceedings, where he made similar representations: acting out of character and feeling unsupported by senior management.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

A headlock, a corridor, and a threat. Stendall admitted placing Pupil A in a headlock, holding it down the corridor, and telling his class “Carry on and I will put you in a headlock and take you out”.

The witness account, which the panel accepted, was that Stendall approached the pupil aggressively, shouted, and grabbed his left arm in a manner not advocated by TeamTeach before applying the headlock — “Matthew Stendall’s arm was right around Pupil A’s neck” — and that he then opened the door and walked down the corridor with Pupil A still in the hold for some 15 to 20 metres, remarking on the way that he was “about to pack my bags and leave”. Five pupils — B, C, D, E and F — corroborated the headlock in their incident forms, and several also recorded that Stendall threatened to put them all in headlocks or asked if they wanted to be; when he returned to the classroom he stated, per the witness evidence, that if the noise and behaviour carried on he would do “the same to you — putting you in a headlock”. Stendall admitted all three sub-allegations but disputed that they amounted to unacceptable professional conduct; the hearing proceeded in his absence after he waived attendance. The panel found the facts proved, found the conduct both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct likely to bring the profession into disrepute, and rejected his explanations — accepting that the incident took place within a very challenging context and that a factor the decision redacts may have impacted on his judgment at the time, but noting he was trained for exactly that context and that a prior disciplinary episode had drawn the same excuses.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The published decision records no press coverage; the documented consequences are the findings and the lifetime bar. The panel found strong public-interest considerations across safeguarding, the protection of the public, professional confidence and the declaration of proper standards: an unauthorised restraint used in front of a class, followed by threats to repeat it on the pupils watching. It listed the conduct against the Advice’s incompatibility factors — serious departure from the Teachers’ Standards, misconduct affecting pupil wellbeing, abuse of position or trust, failure in duty of care, and violation of pupils’ rights. Weighing mitigation, it accepted the challenging context but held his actions deliberate, taken by a teacher who knew the correct methods and had no undue pressure to abandon them. It rejected even the no-prohibition outcome, finding publication of findings alone would unacceptably compromise the public interest.

Current Status

The panel recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period: violence is among the Advice’s categories pointing against review, and the panel was concerned that this was his second professional-conduct episode built on the same reasoning, making the risk of repetition high. It also recorded Stendall’s own comment that he did not wish to return to teaching in any event. On 15 September 2023, decision maker David Oatley, acting for the Secretary of State, confirmed the order, finding that no review period was necessary to maintain public confidence. Matthew Stendall is prohibited from teaching indefinitely — the ban covers every school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation and children’s home in England — and is not entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order took effect on service, with a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Stendall’s case is the no-injury ban: no conviction, no lasting harm recorded, a single afternoon of lost temper — yet a lifetime exclusion, because the regulator read the sequence as a teacher using an untrained hold on a child, marching him through a corridor as spectators, and then warning the class they were next. The decision’s harshest arithmetic is repetition: the same excuses in a prior disciplinary, a second serious departure from the standards, and a high assessed risk of a third. His own statement that he did not wish to return to teaching removed the last argument for a review window. From 15 September 2023 the prohibition is permanent — no application for restoration is available to him under the order.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Matthew Stendall” — source