Dr Tom Kershaw

Introduction

Dr Tom Kershaw is a former science teacher and sixth-form head of year at Ivybridge Community College in Devon who was prohibited from teaching indefinitely in July 2023 after a professional conduct panel found he had groped a colleague at his school’s summer prom while drunk, made a crude sexual remark about her, and carried on an inappropriate email correspondence with a female sixth-form pupil he called “hun” and bought jewellery for. Unlike most teachers in TRA cases, Kershaw attended the hearing with counsel and admitted the facts of the prom allegations; the dispute was over whether the pupil emails crossed professional lines, which the panel found they did, and over sexual motivation, which it also found proved. The decision maker imposed a five-year review period, citing the sexually motivated conduct and his lack of full insight.

Background Information

Kershaw taught science at Ivybridge Community College and held a senior pastoral post as head of year in the sixth-form team, with the panel accepting that no doubt had been cast on his academic abilities with pupils. The allegations centred on the school prom of 29 June 2018 and on emails exchanged with a pupil, Pupil B, between 2017 and 2018. The panel convened virtually on 17 July 2023; Kershaw was present and represented by Mr Nick Kennan of Counsel, the hearing sat in public with parts in private, and he admitted the facts of allegations 1 and 2 in full, accepting they amounted to unacceptable professional conduct.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Sexually motivated conduct at a school prom. Admitted facts found proved, with sexual motivation found on the colleague allegations; a no-hearing pupil email dispute found against him. No criminal proceedings form part of the decision.

The panel found that at the 2018 school prom Kershaw drank to excess, downed a drink when pupils put a penny in it as part of a drinking game with Year 13 boys, and had to be monitored by concerned colleagues, who gave him water and moved him to sit with staff. It found he slid his hand along Colleague A’s body and cupped and grabbed her left breast at the event, and that he said of her “if it wasn’t for her wedding ring, I’d fuck her in a heartbeat”. In his own words to the panel, he “allowed myself to be caught in a situation where I was being bought drinks by students at the bar”, drinking to a level inappropriate for a senior member of staff. The panel found this conduct sexually motivated, describing it in its reasons as sexually motivated conduct while intoxicated in the presence of sixth-form pupils.

The second strand concerned his relationship with Pupil B, a sixth-former. Kershaw admitted emailing her “I love getting a rise!”, “Well my dear, you’re obviously hard to get over! Hehe!”, “Tell me something I don’t already know, hun!” and a message promising “Will make time for you on Monday. Promise. X”, and admitted buying her jewellery, but denied these were unprofessional. The panel rejected his defence, finding the emails and gift amounted to a failure to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with a pupil, and found allegation 4, that this conduct was also sexually motivated, proved on the totality of the findings.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found a strong public interest in safeguarding pupils given the finding of sexually motivated conduct while intoxicated in front of sixth-formers, and weighed against it the public interest in retaining a teacher whose ability was undoubted and whose character evidence described a colleague of the highest integrity, a “genuine believer in science” held in exceptionally high regard. It accepted the prom incident was out of character and that but for alcohol most of it would not have occurred, but found his drinking itself was a deliberate choice made in the presence of pupils. He had apologised through his representative to the colleague concerned. The panel recommended a five-year review period, and the decision maker required exactly that, finding the seriousness of the sexually motivated conduct and the lack of full insight meant no shorter period would maintain public confidence.

Current Status

The decision was made by David Oatley on behalf of the Secretary of State on 21 July 2023, following the panel’s determination of 20 July 2023. Dr Tom Kershaw 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 five years from the date of the order at the earliest, which falls in July 2028; an application is not an automatic right to have the order removed. The order took effect from service on him, and he had a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Kershaw’s case shows how the regulator treats a single drunken event even when the teacher pleads guilty to it: the prom groping and remark, admitted and unexcused, were fatal to a career that character witnesses described as exceptional, and the pupil email correspondence he thought benign was found to carry the same sexual motivation. The five-year review period is among the longest short of a no-review order, and any 2028 application would confront a record in which his own admissions, to the drinking game, to the monitoring, to the emails, are part of the findings.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Dr Tom Kershaw” — source