Mr Thomas Moss

Introduction

Mr Thomas Moss is a former science teacher at Belvedere Academy who was prohibited from teaching indefinitely after a professional conduct panel found he had engaged in and/or developed an inappropriate relationship with a pupil, identified as Pupil A, including sexual activity with her shortly after she left the school roll. Moss denied the allegations and did not attend the hearing, which went ahead in his absence in December 2023. The panel found most particulars proved, rejected the claim that he had obtained the pupil’s phone number, and found his conduct amounted to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. On the panel’s recommendation, the decision maker for the Secretary of State banned him from teaching indefinitely, with a five-year review period.

Background Information

Moss joined Belvedere Academy on 4 September 2017 as a teacher of science, his first qualified position after completing a PGCE at Liverpool Hope University. He was later promoted to head of year 10. The case surfaced on 17 March 2022, when a colleague, Witness D, reported concerns about Moss’s relationship with Pupil A; he was suspended the next day. Moss resigned on 5 May 2022, and his employment ceased on 27 June 2022. The Academy referred him to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) on 11 October 2022 after concluding its own disciplinary process.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Inappropriate relationship with a pupil. Contested and found proved in substantial part.

The panel considered allegations that, whilst employed at Belvedere Academy, Moss engaged in and/or developed an inappropriate relationship with Pupil A by obtaining her personal number; communicating via WhatsApp and via school email outside of school hours and at weekends; meeting her one-to-one outside school premises; inviting or allowing her into his home accommodation; and engaging in sexual activity with her shortly after she was no longer on the school roll. A further allegation was that the behaviour was conduct of a sexual nature and/or sexually motivated. Moss denied the allegations and did not attend or seek representation, writing that he was “fine for the hearing to go ahead without me on the 4th of December”.

The panel found proved that Moss communicated with Pupil A via WhatsApp and exchanged emails with her outside school hours. The hearing bundle contained over 150 pages of their emails, including a continuous late-night exchange on 24 March 2021 discussing Pupil A’s wellbeing but also a television series; the panel considered the tone, quantity and timing of the emails inappropriate. It also found proved that he met Pupil A one-to-one outside the Academy’s premises and that he invited or allowed her into his home, where they would make or have dinner. Pupil A’s statement described how the relationship developed: “In or around September the relationship became intimate and we continued dating until it ended in December 2021.” The panel found it more probable than not that he had engaged in sexual activity with Pupil A shortly after she was no longer on the roll of the Academy.

Not everything was proved. The panel found the particular alleging that Moss obtained Pupil A’s personal number not proved, accepting the evidence that Pupil A had obtained his number from a family member and contacted him first. The email and WhatsApp exchanges whilst Pupil A was a pupil were not themselves sexually motivated, since the relationship did not become sexual until months later; but inviting Pupil A into his home was a considerable escalation, and his purpose was found more likely than not to be a sexual one, in pursuit of a future sexual relationship. His conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in breach of the Teachers’ Standards on observing proper boundaries and safeguarding pupils’ wellbeing.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel treated the breach of professional boundaries as grave, noting that “the public would not expect a teacher, in a position of trust, to engage in an inappropriate relationship with a pupil or to engage in sexual activity with a pupil shortly after the pupil left the Academy.” It found strong public interest considerations around safeguarding, public confidence and proper standards, and noted that the relationship had escalated from online exchanges by email and WhatsApp into a sexual relationship. On insight and remorse the panel was unpersuaded: it considered Moss naïve to think that a gap of a few months between Pupil A leaving and the relationship starting cured the position-of-trust problem, found he had not yet developed insight into why the breakdown of barriers was inappropriate, and said he had not understood the potential impact on Pupil A.

Current Status

The decision was made by David Oatley on behalf of the Secretary of State on 8 December 2023, following the panel’s determination of 6 December 2023. Mr Thomas Moss 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 prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 13 December 2028 at the earliest; this is not an automatic right, and a panel would consider any application. Without a successful application, he remains prohibited indefinitely. The order takes effect from the date it is served on him, and he had a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days of notice.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Moss’s teaching career ran from September 2017, when he took up his first qualified post at Belvedere Academy, to his resignation in 2022. The panel acknowledged there was a public interest in retaining him, since no doubt had been cast on his abilities as an educator and his promotion to head of year 10 suggested genuine strengths as a teacher. It nonetheless found the adverse public interest considerations outweighed that interest, because his behaviour fundamentally breached the standard of conduct expected of a teacher and the relationship was built upon his position of trust. In his representations, Moss stated that he now plans to continue in a different career.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Thomas Moss” — source