Ross Bullen

Introduction

Ross Bullen is a former teacher at Priory Rise School in Milton Keynes who was banned from teaching in 2026 after a Teaching Regulation Agency panel found he had sent sexually explicit images to a 15-year-old boy over Snapchat. Bullen denied the allegations and fought the case at a hearing, but the panel proved that he sent the images and that the conduct was sexually motivated; only the allegation that he knew the recipient was 15 failed for lack of evidence. The Secretary of State imposed a prohibition order with a two-year review period.

The published decision is the primary public record of the contested findings.

Background Information

Bullen worked as a teacher at Priory Rise School, a secondary school in Milton Keynes. The recipient of the messages — anonymised as Person A in the decision — was not a pupil at Bullen’s school: the panel was explicit that Person A “was not a pupil at Mr Bullen’s school”, and that no evidence had been received of breaches of the school’s own policies. The case nevertheless reached the regulator because the conduct, wherever it occurred, was incompatible with a teacher’s professional standards.

The matter was reported to Bullen’s school by Person A, whose report the panel had in evidence, and a TRA hearing followed in 2026 with the allegations contested throughout: Bullen did not admit the facts and did not admit unacceptable professional conduct.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations vs. proved. Bullen denied the allegations and the case was fully contested; what follows mixes proved findings with the allegation the panel rejected. The findings are regulatory, not criminal — no prosecution is recorded in the decision, and Bullen’s denial on the age point was accepted on the evidence as presented.

According to the published decision, the panel found proved that between around March and May 2023 Bullen sent one or more sexually explicit images and messages to Person A via Snapchat — allegation 1, found proved on the balance of probabilities with evidence including images recovered from Person A’s phone, six of which a witness described as showing a man in a state of undress — and proved that the conduct was of a sexual nature and sexually motivated, the panel reasoning that sharing explicit images is inherently sexual in nature. But the panel found not proved the allegation that he knew Person A was 15: the recipient turned 16 partway through the message window, the panel found limited evidence on which images were sent when, and concluded it was not proven Bullen was aware of the age when he sent them.

The panel noted Bullen did not verify the ages of his connections when accepting them on the platform, and heard his evidence before concluding on the two proved allegations. It found the proved conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The age finding mattered to categorisation — an aware-of-15 finding would have placed the case in the most serious band — but the panel’s sexual-motivation finding against a serving teacher carried the prohibition recommendation on its own.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel recommended a prohibition order with a two-year review period, and the decision on behalf of the Secretary of State agreed. The published order states Bullen is “prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England”, with the right to apply for the order to be set aside after two years. The determination is dated 4 August 2026.

The ban was published on GOV.UK on 25 August 2026. No separate mainstream press coverage of the case has been located; the public record consists of the regulator’s own published decision. The case shows how the regulator treats off-school, non-pupil conduct: the panel’s reasoning turns on professional status rather than workplace duty, since Person A was a minor outside Bullen’s school rather than a pupil in his care.

Current Status

Bullen is barred from teaching in England. The prohibition order carries a two-year review period, so he may apply for it to be set aside after that period; any such application would be weighed against the proved findings that he sent explicit images to a minor and that the conduct was sexually motivated. His employment at Priory Rise School has ended.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The career impact is a minimum two-year exclusion from all teaching in England, with the proved findings capable of defeating any restoration application. The case is also a data point on platform evidence: with Snapchat’s own data unrecoverable, the case was carried by what survived on the recipient’s phone and his testimony — and the panel’s refusal to prove the age-knowledge allegation shows the evidential line between a two-year and a lifetime ban.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Ross Bullen,” published 25 August 2026 — source