Miss Robyn Hedges

Introduction

Miss Robyn Hedges was a class teacher at a school the Teaching Regulation Agency declined to name in its published decision. In June 2024 a professional conduct panel of the TRA found proved that she engaged in inappropriate relationships and failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with pupils, including social media contact and meeting them off school premises; that she concealed and misled her school about that contact, dishonestly and without integrity; and that she failed to pass on safeguarding disclosures made by a pupil. She admitted every allegation in a signed statement of agreed facts. On 27 June 2024, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, Marc Cavey prohibited her from teaching indefinitely, with a two-year review period.

Background Information

The panel convened on 24 to 25 June 2024 by way of a virtual hearing held in public and recorded. Miss Hedges was not present and was not represented; she had confirmed she would not attend, and the panel concluded her absence was voluntary. Her application for the hearing to be held in private was refused. Her statement of agreed facts dated 4 June 2024 was admitted; in it she admitted the allegations in full, and that they amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that would bring the profession into disrepute.

The matter surfaced on 12 May 2023, when Pupil A’s mother and grandmother attended the School with 187 screenshots of private Instagram messages between Pupil A and Miss Hedges. The School referred the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer, who informed the police; Miss Hedges was suspended, and it emerged she had also been in contact with other pupils, particularly Pupil B. After the police found no criminal offences appeared to have been committed, the School’s investigation resumed; Miss Hedges resigned on 7 July 2023, and the School referred her to the TRA.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The first cluster concerned boundary breaches. The panel found proved that between around February and May 2023 she communicated with one or more pupils via social media, breaching the Teachers’ Standards and the School’s signed code of conduct. With Pupil A she discussed underwear, initiating a conversation about thongs; relationships, helping her write a breakup message to her boyfriend; shaving; body piercings, including nipple and belly button piercings; and vaping, saying she would take her vape into School. She also met Pupil A and Pupil B in a local park. Such topics, discussed in such an over familiar and casual fashion, fell outside the appropriate range of teacher–pupil discussion.

The second cluster concerned concealment, found proved in full. She told Pupil A their communication was being monitored and told her not to tell anyone about their contact, and deleted a large majority of the messages she had sent Pupil A, admitting she did this to conceal them. At the suspension meeting she claimed the contact had lasted one week, that she had been trying to ‘bat her away’, and that Pupil A was the only pupil she had contacted — a demonstrable mistruth, since she had also been in contact with Pupils B, C and D. The panel found the concealment dishonest and a fundamental lack of integrity — another teacher had already warned her that her public Instagram account breached the code of conduct.

The fourth allegation was a failure of safeguarding. Pupil A sent her a video of herself using a vape and reported vaping in the school toilets; she also disclosed being dared to kiss another pupil in the park for money, and that a boy had kissed her on the cheek for money while another filmed it. Miss Hedges admitted she passed none of this to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, and the panel found both disclosures were the type required to be passed on, so her silence was a failure of her safeguarding duty.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found all four allegations proved, amounting to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Her actions could not be categorised as a momentary lapse: they persisted for a sustained period despite informal approaches from colleagues, and she concealed them once a formal investigation began. They caused a total breakdown of professional boundaries with pupils and wholly undermined the ‘role model’ expectations the public places on teachers; instead of teaching young children the dangers of social media, she actively exposed them to such risks. On the spectrum of dishonesty her actions fell between the extreme ends — deleting messages before concerns were raised suggested early recognition of impropriety, but the concealment was reactive rather than sophisticated. Prohibition and a two-year review period were recommended, the risks to pupils being remediable.

Current Status

On 27 June 2024 Marc Cavey decided on behalf of the Secretary of State that Miss Robyn Hedges is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. He quoted the panel’s finding that she “has continued to show limited insight into some aspects of her actions. Whilst she readily understands the nature and topics of the interactions were unsuitable, there has been little understanding of the inherent risks of harm to pupils in simply engaging with them in the first place over social media.” In his judgement, the lack of evidence that she had attained full insight into and remorse for her actions meant there was some risk of repetition of this behaviour, putting at risk the future wellbeing of pupils; he gave that considerable weight. A two-year review period was sufficient, given the lack of evidence of full insight or remorse and the attendant risk of a repeat. She may apply for the order to be set aside, but not until 29 June 2026 at the earliest — two years from the date of the order. That is not an automatic right; without a successful application she remains prohibited indefinitely.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition order ends Miss Hedges’s teaching career in England unless a future panel sets the order aside after June 2026. She had resigned on 7 July 2023 while the School’s investigation was ongoing. The panel heard she was regarded as a good teacher, well respected by staff, pupils and parents, with a strong working knowledge of safeguarding requirements she had previously applied correctly — she knew the processes and did not use them. It noted her substantial admissions and remorse from the outset, but could not identify a workable strategy ensuring no recurrence. Any future application would require her to show full insight into the inherent risks of harm in privately engaging with pupils at all.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Miss Robyn Hedges” — source