Pic:Thomas Laessing was sacked and is facing being banned from teaching
Educational reporter(wp/es):
A teacher at one of the country’s top schools was sacked and is facing a classroom ban for sending inappropriate messages to young girls, the Standard can reveal.
Thomas Laessing, a mathematics teacher and head of tennis at St Paul’s School’s junior department - previously known as Colet Court - was also warned by the police to stop harassing one of the youngsters who had asked him to leave her alone.
Laessing, 40, who married his wife Louisa seven years ago, obtained the teenager’s phone number from a ‘crew list’ at a youth sailing organisation where he also worked as a volunteer tutor.
Despite the girl asking him to stop, the teacher continued to ring and message her, resulting in him being issued a police Prevention of Harassment letter.
He even urged the girl to keep his advances secret, knowing it could get him into trouble, and inappropriately pursued two other pupils via Facebook and other social media.
Laessing now faces being struck off as a teacher after being investigated by the government’s schools watchdog.
The professional conduct panel of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) met in private last month after Laessing was fired by St Paul’s over the incidents.
Its report, seen by the Standard today, found that he failed to maintain appropriate professional standards or appropriate professional boundaries while working as a teacher.
The panel ruled that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct, and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, relating to “inappropriate telephone, text message and social media contact with pupils”.
A decision on whether he should be allowed to remain a teacher will be made in the coming weeks.
When confronted about the wrongdoing outside a property in Barnes which he rents out on Airbnb, Laessing today simply said: “No comment”.
The allegations came to light when St Paul’s School was contacted by the Richmond Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) which deals with safeguarding issues, the police, and the school which the girl involved attended.
Laessing was suspended and then sacked by St Paul’s following an investigation.
A source at the school, where fees cost more than £23,000 a year, said no-one ever had any reason to be concerned about the teacher.
The source said: “He taught our boys maths and tennis for over two years at the school and we never had any complaints from parents, staff or pupils about any inappropriate conduct.
“St Paul’s has incredibly stringent policies, which includes whistleblowing, to safeguard our boys.”
The NCTL panel found that he had “misused” the crew list from the Ocean Youth Trust South organisation, while also finding that he sent inappropriate messages to two other schoolgirls via social media.
It said his conduct was “of a serious nature” and fell “significantly short” of the standards expected of the profession.
It was of “particular concern” that his “pre-meditated” conduct was repeated over a roughly three-month period and was “entirely unsolicited”, the panel said, adding: “Mr Laessing was clearly aware that his conduct crossed proper boundaries.
"This is confirmed by his attempt to persuade Pupil A not to share the occurrence of the communications with other people, and by his own statement in a communication with Pupil A that recognised it could get him into difficulty.”
Laessing, a keen sailor, studied English at Nottingham Trent university before gaining his teaching qualification at St Mary’s University in Twickenham.
He admitted the facts in full in writing earlier this year and was not represented at the hearing.
Mark Todd, chief executive of Ocean Youth Trust South, said it took the safeguarding and welfare of its young people “very seriously”.
He said: “Earlier this year we were made aware of concerns about someone who had volunteered with us and following an investigation, that volunteer was dismissed.
“We notified the appropriate bodies at the earliest opportunity and have fully co-operated with them.”
He added that they were “greatly saddened that a single individual associated with the charity should fall short of the very high standards that we have established”.
In a statement St Paul’s School said it was “fully committed” to ensuring its standard of safeguarding provision is “of the highest level.
It said: “Working closely with the police and the LADO, Mr Laessing was dismissed following allegations which related to conduct outside of school. None of the allegations was relating to any pupils at St Paul’s.
“The School, acting in accordance with employment law and in line with the school’s statutory safeguarding procedures, passed the matter onto the NCTL.
“This is an excellent example of agencies and schools working together to safeguard children.”
No comments:
Post a Comment