BANNED: Sandwell teacher texted pupils and drove them home

A teacher who texted pupils outside of school hours and gave them a lift home in his car has been banned from the profession indefinitely.

Krzysztof Weber was found guilty of conduct which breached professional boundaries whilst working at George Salter Academy in West Bromwich between September 2014 and April last year.

During his time at the large secondary, which has more than 1,200 pupils, the 40-year-old sent text messages to one boy at weekends, in the evening and in the early hours of the morning and also communicated with him on Facebook Messenger in breach of rules.

He gave another boy his personal mobile number and drove both of them home without seeking their parental consent.

Mr Weber also posted content of a 'sexual nature' onto his Facebook page while employed at Bishop Walsh Catholic School in Sutton Coldfield, where he had worked since 2002, which he spoke about with former pupils.

It was also found current students at the secondary would have been able to see the posts.

A professional conduct panel of the National College for Teaching and Leadership sitting in Coventry concluded Mr Weber's conduct 'fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.'

A report by Alan Meyrick, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, concluded: "The findings of misconduct are serious and the conduct displayed would likely have a negative impact on the individual’s status as a teacher, potentially damaging the public perception.

"The panel therefore finds that Mr Weber’s actions constitute conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute."

He added: "In light of the panel’s findings against Mr Weber, involving activities which meant that Mr Weber failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries whilst employed at both the School and the Academy, protection of pupils is an important factor given the boundaries issues identified.

"The panel also note that whilst they have no evidence that pupils were harmed there is a potential for these repeated behaviours, which have been continued despite warnings, to have a potential to put pupils at risk.

"Similarly, the panel considered that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Weber were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession."

Mr Weber was banned from teaching in any school, sixth form college, youth accommodation or children's home in England.

He cannot appeal the sanction for at least two years.

A spokesman for the academy said: “We were appalled by this individual’s actions and fully support the recommendation of the panel that he should be prohibited from teaching indefinitely.

“The safety and wellbeing of all our students is always our top priority, and we have robust safeguarding procedures in place across the academy to ensure this is the case.

"As soon as we became aware of this individual’s behaviour, we took action, informed the relevant authorities and he was suspended with immediate effect.

"Disciplinary proceedings were started, shortly after which he resigned from his position.”