Stephen Kenyon

Introduction

Stephen Kenyon, a subject leader who had taught at a secondary school since 2013, was banned from teaching for life in November 2024 after a Teaching Regulation Agency panel found, on the balance of probabilities, that he touched two female pupils in lessons — resting his hands on one girl’s shoulders, back and chest across 2018-19 and touching the side of another’s breast over her bra in June 2021. A crown court jury had acquitted him of sexually assaulting the second pupil a year earlier, but the regulator’s lower evidential threshold allowed the panel to find the conduct proved and of a sexual nature, and decision maker David Oatley prohibited him with no review period and no right ever to apply for restoration.

Background Information

Kenyon was employed as a Subject Leader at the school — named only as “the School” in the published decision, which redacts identifying details — from 2013, and taught both pupils in his subject lessons. On 11 June 2021 the mother of Pupil D called the school to report that her daughter said Kenyon had touched the side of her breast during a lesson, with his fingers along the seam of her bra. The Local Authority Designated Officer contacted the school within days, and police began a criminal investigation after a parent reported the incident to them that weekend. A separate pupil, Pupil B, disclosed in September 2021 that Kenyon had touched her inappropriately in lessons two to three years earlier, telling both the police and the school’s pastoral team.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Acquitted by a jury, banned by the regulator. The criminal court found the touching not proved beyond reasonable doubt; the TRA panel found it proved on the balance of probabilities, held it was of a sexual nature, and stripped Kenyon of his eligibility to teach permanently.

The panel found that between 2018 and 2019 Kenyon touched Pupil B in an inappropriate manner — putting his hands on her shoulders for an overly prolonged time, placing both hands on her back over her clothing, resting his hand on top of hers on the computer mouse and touching her chest just below the collarbone. Pupil B told the panel he “would often put his hand on top of my hand on the computer mouse” and that he had a reputation among girls for being overly friendly; a friend corroborated the shoulder-touching and the meaningful looks they exchanged. On 11 June 2021, the panel found, he put his hand under Pupil D’s armpit and touched her bra and the area near her breast; her friend Pupil E, seated beside her, testified to seeing his hand on the side of Pupil D’s left breast during a lesson.

Kenyon denied everything, writing in response to the allegations: “I categorically deny that I touched her breast in a lesson in my classroom on 11th June 2021. This event did not happen, is completely fabricated and not true.” He was charged with sexually assaulting Pupil D after a police review and stood trial at a Crown Court in July 2022, where the jury found him not guilty. The TRA panel, rehearing the same witnesses’ accounts — their police statements, crown court evidence, TRA statements and live testimony — found the allegations proved to the civil standard and held the conduct was of a sexual nature. It gave no weight to the argument that the acquittal should decide the regulatory case, noting the different standards of proof.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel identified abuse of position of trust and sexual misconduct as aggravated features, noting that the conduct took place in lessons, in Kenyon’s own classroom, against pupils in his care. It found strong public interest in the protection of pupils, the maintenance of public confidence and proper standards, and concluded that even setting aside the sexual findings, the touching of pupils in a teacher’s charge placed the case in the most serious category. It recommended prohibition without any review period, and Oatley went further on 8 November 2024, directing that Kenyon shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach — a step reserved for cases the decision maker judges irreversible. The school completed its own internal investigation and disciplinary process after the criminal case ended and referred him to the TRA.

Current Status

Kenyon is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The order of 8 November 2024 has no review period, and because he was also stripped of restoration rights, no future panel can lift it on application — his only route is a High Court appeal within 28 days of notice, a window that has closed. The criminal acquittal stands and he faces no further proceedings arising from the events; the regulator’s ban is the operative restriction on his working life.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case illustrates the two-track system at its sharpest: an acquittal on the criminal standard is not an exoneration for employment purposes, and a teacher cleared by a jury can still lose the classroom for life on the same facts. For pupils, the panel’s willingness to rehear the trial evidence sent the message that the safeguarding jurisdiction survives a not-guilty verdict. For Kenyon, eleven years of subject leadership and an unblemished record ended in a permanent prohibition that forecloses every regulated child-facing role in England, with no statutory route back.

Sources

• Dept for Education, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Stephen Kenyon” — source