Stephen McCulley

Introduction

Stephen McCulley is a former supply teacher and social worker with a 34-year career behind him whose classroom record ended over a single day’s conduct at a Norfolk primary school. On or around 20 March 2019, while teaching at St William’s Primary School, he put his hands on or around the throats of two pupils aged eight or nine, called one of them a “scumbag”, and spoke to the other about “sticking him to the wall”; he later accepted a police caution for the conduct. A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel found all allegations proved on his admissions, and on 14 December 2022 decision maker Sarah Buxcey prohibited him from teaching indefinitely with a three-year review period.

Background Information

McCulley was registered with the Step Teachers supply agency and had worked at St William’s Primary on daily supply from 25 February 2019 before starting a long-term placement there on 14 March 2019, intended to run to mid-May. Six days into that placement came the conduct that ended everything. His wider record was long and unblemished by the panel’s account: he had worked as both a teacher and a social worker across 34 years, and no character concerns about his history were recorded in the decision. The police caution — accepted on 19 September 2019 for the throat-grabbing of the first pupil — was the criminal-system endpoint of the incident.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted physical misconduct toward pupils. McCulley admitted every allegation, including that the conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in a statement of agreed facts signed on 18 March 2022; the case was decided without a hearing at his request.

The panel’s findings read from the children’s accounts, corroborated by his own written statements. On the same day, twice, he placed his hands on or around the throats of two different pupils. He called Pupil A a “scumbag”, and made comments to Pupil B about “sticking him to the wall”. The police caution followed for the throat conduct toward Pupil A. The decision records what the incident left behind: a school check found no marks on either child’s throat the next day, but Pupil A told a staff member he was keen to get to class yet did not want to be left alone with McCulley, and Pupil B told police he thought a classmate who shouted at McCulley to stop “had saved his life” when his hands were around Pupil B’s throat. Asked to explain himself, McCulley maintained his actions were a joke; the panel “did not feel Mr McCulley’s behaviour was consistent with a joke given the context in which it occurred”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The agency placement at St William’s ended in May 2019, the caution came that September, and the TRA referral closed the loop three years later. In his statement of 11 March 2022 he wrote, “I am deeply sorry and remorseful for my behaviour”, and the panel acknowledged the full admissions and apology — but found the remorse incomplete because it was never extended to the school or the profession, and found his insight limited so long as he maintained the joke explanation. No character testimonials were filed, despite the long record. The panel flagged concern that an experienced teacher offered no real explanation for grabbing two children’s throats in one day.

Current Status

McCulley is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. He may apply for the order to be set aside no earlier than 21 December 2025, three years from the date of the order; an application is not an automatic right, and without a successful one the ban stands. The three-year period reflected the panel’s recommendation: one day’s conduct across a long career, but a failure of insight and remorse that left open a risk of repetition.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case ends a 34-year dual career — teaching and social work — on a single day’s conduct, and the decision’s most quoted detail is the child who believed a classmate had saved his life. It marks the boundary the regulator enforces even without a conviction: a police caution plus admissions bought no mitigation beyond the review period, because the joke explanation denied the panel any insight into what actually happened in that classroom. For supply agencies the case shows the exposure in long-term placements: the school’s safeguarding response and the pupils’ own statements became the entire evidential record.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency (GOV.UK), “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Stephen McCulley,” December 2022 — source