Natasha Blackmore

Introduction

Natasha Blackmore is a former teacher at Westfield Academy in Somerset who was banned from teaching in 2026 after admitting a pattern of professional-boundary failures with pupils — personal social-media contact, over-sharing about her private life, and an unauthorised meeting with pupils at Yeovil Recreation Centre during the school holidays. She admitted the allegations and the misconduct finding at a papers-only hearing; the Secretary of State imposed a prohibition order with a two-year review period.

Background Information

Blackmore taught at Westfield Academy, a secondary school in Somerset. The misconduct spanned two academic years, 2023–24 and 2024–25, and centred on boundaries: the panel’s agreed facts record that she disclosed significant inappropriate details about her personal life to one or more pupils, spent excessive time with them, allowed them to contact her via her personal social-media account, and exchanged messages with them in social-media group chats. The panel found the conduct breached Keeping Children Safe in Education and was inconsistent with the school’s staff code of conduct — it noted she had inappropriate contact with children outside school, was “over friendly with children,” and that a select group of pupils spent their breaks in her classroom, with one pupil describing her as favouring another. The meeting at the leisure centre took place on 5 August 2024, during the school holidays, without the school’s authorisation.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Blackmore admitted the allegations in a signed statement of agreed facts, and the panel found them proved on that admission; nothing in this section is contested or unadjudicated. The case involves boundary failures and an unauthorised meeting — the published record contains no finding of sexual motivation and no allegation of physical conduct.

The allegations found proved were that on various dates across the two academic years she inappropriately communicated with pupils by disclosing inappropriate personal details and spending excessive time with them; that she allowed pupils to contact her personal social-media account and exchanged messages in group chats; that she arranged a meeting with one or more pupils at Yeovil Recreation Centre during the school holidays which the school had not authorised; and that on 5 August 2024 she met with one or more pupils at the leisure centre without the school’s authorisation. By those actions she failed to maintain professional boundaries with pupils.

Blackmore admitted all of the allegations and admitted they amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The TRA agreed to decide the case without a hearing; the panel considered her signed statement of agreed facts at a private meeting in March 2026.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found the conduct breached the fundamental boundary between staff and pupils — the leisure-centre meeting in particular, because it placed pupils in an unsupervised setting outside any school oversight during a holiday period. But it also found the other side of the ledger: “no evidence of any harm having been caused to pupils,” significant insight, and “little risk of repetition,” and recommended a two-year review period rather than a no-review ban. The Secretary of State agreed, citing the seriousness of the sustained boundary breach alongside her insight and remorse. No mainstream press coverage carrying her name has been located; the public record is the regulator’s decision.

Current Status

The determination is dated 24 March 2026 and the order was signed on 27 March 2026. Blackmore is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth-form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. She may apply for the order to be set aside from 2 April 2028 — two years from the order — with her documented insight the basis any such application would rest on. She retains a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days of notice.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The ban removes Blackmore from teaching for at least two years and permanently attaches the published findings — the group chats, the personal account, the holiday meeting — to her professional name. The case shows where the TRA draws its line on boundary cases decided on admissions: unauthorised out-of-school meetings with pupils are treated as serious enough to bar a teacher even where the regulator finds no harm and accepts insight, because the review panel’s protection rests on the teacher demonstrating reduced risk, not on pretending the breach was minor.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Ms Natasha Blackmore,” published 2 April 2026 — source