Peter Sylvester

Introduction

Peter Sylvester, also known as Timothy Peter Sylvester, is a former IT teacher and personal tutor at Greenhead College in Huddersfield who was prohibited from teaching in June 2023 after a panel found he was convicted of assault in 2021 and had lied to his employer when he told it, in November 2020, that he had never previously been involved in a violent incident — despite a 1996 violent incident, a 1997 conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and a 2009 risk assessment over his conduct. Sylvester admitted the conviction but denied dishonesty; the panel split its findings, proving the facts and rejecting the dishonesty allegation. The Secretary of State’s decision maker imposed a prohibition order with a five-year review period.

Background Information

Sylvester, born in October 1962, first worked at Greenhead College as an assistant systems manager between September 1993 and 1998, then re-joined in February 2009 as a teacher of IT, later becoming a personal tutor and teacher of the Extended Project Qualification. On 12 October 2020 the college suspended him, and he resigned on 22 February 2021. On 3 June 2021 he was convicted at West Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court of assault, contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, arising from an incident on 10 October 2020. His case was heard by a TRA panel convened via MS Teams on 31 May 2023, where he appeared and gave oral evidence — a contested hearing, unlike most prohibition cases.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

An assault conviction and a hidden history. Sylvester admitted the 2021 assault conviction; the panel then found he had told his college he had never been violent, despite a 1996 incident, a 1997 ABH conviction and a 2009 risk assessment.

Allegation 1, the conviction, was admitted and proved. On allegation 2, the panel tested the accuracy of minutes taken at the 5 November 2020 meeting where Sylvester answered questions after the assault; he accepted his answers were as recorded, and the panel found the minutes substantially accurate. It therefore found factually proved that he had been involved in a violent incident involving an individual in or around 1996; that he was convicted on or around 11 March 1997 at Bradford Crown Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm; and that he had been subject to a risk assessment over that conduct on or around 2 February 2009 — all before he told his employer he had never been involved in violence. Sylvester denied allegation 3, that this lacked integrity or was dishonest, and the panel sided with him on the split: it did not find that he lacked integrity or was dishonest, and found allegation 3 not proved. Character witnesses described him as generally open and honest, and both referees were aware of the circumstances behind the allegations.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The published decision records no press coverage; the documented consequences are the suspension, the resignation, the assault conviction, and the prohibition. The panel found his actions over the assault deliberate and intentional, with no evidence of duress, but heard oral evidence to his character and noted he had been forthcoming in the criminal investigation and the TRA process, expressing remorse and regret at the hearing. The panel found a public interest in safeguarding pupils and maintaining confidence in the profession, and weighed the references, which it judged narrow — focused mostly on his work as a teacher — though from referees who knew what had led to the case. The split verdict mattered: the regulator sanctioned him for the violence and the false statement, while expressly declining to brand him dishonest.

Current Status

The panel recommended a prohibition order with a review period of not less than five years, reasoning that the case did not fall within the Advice’s no-review categories, but that deliberate and serious offending — combined with the historic conviction for a similar offence — justified a longer period before any review. On 8 June 2023, decision maker Marc Cavey, acting for the Secretary of State, confirmed the prohibition order with a five-year review period. Peter Sylvester is prohibited from teaching indefinitely — the ban covers every school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation and children’s home in England — and may apply to have the order set aside, but not before 9 June 2028. The order took effect on service, with a right of appeal to the High Court within 28 days.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Sylvester’s case is the rare contested ban that ends in the middle tier: no lifetime no-review bar, but no acquittal either — a five-year door back to a profession he had already left by resignation in February 2021. The decision turns on a single meeting: what he told his college on 5 November 2020 about his own history, and the paper trail — a 1997 conviction, a 2009 risk assessment — that made the answer false. The panel’s refusal to find dishonesty kept his name off the gravest category and bought the shortest realistic path to review, but until June 2028 at the earliest, the assault conviction and the false assurance to his employer keep him out of every regulated teaching setting in England.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Peter Sylvester” — source