Shropshire private school teacher banned after pupils saw YouTube search history included ‘teen bikini haul’

A teacher misconduct panel has now banned James Hindson, 69, from teaching for his actions - although it will allow him to review the ban in two years time.

Hindson was teaching at Moreton Hall, at Weston Rhyn near Oswestry, last year when when he inadvertently showed pupils his YouTube search history on a large screen in the classroom during a lesson.

A report from the Teaching Regulation Agency said: “The pupils reported that as Mr Hindson clicked on the search bar whilst displaying his YouTube account, it revealed his previous searches including one or more of the following terms, “teen bikini haul”, “teens in thongs” and “girls in thongs”.”

The report explains that the school’s IT team then searched Hindson’s Google account, inputting “teen” and found searches matching those reported by the pupils.

Hindson was dismissed from the school on the same day.

The misconduct panel report said that when the school staff checked Hindson’s search history the term “teen” generated multiple results with “common themes of searches being for teens in little clothing, teens engaging in athletic activity, or relating to sexual activity”.

The report says that Hindson wrote to tell the panel the searches were part of effort to “illustrate aspects of global trade based on a song during a lesson”.

He said he had “accidentally” shown the searches to the pupils.

In total the panel considered three allegations - that he had searched YouTube for the terms, that he had displayed the terms to the pupils, and that his conduct was of a sexual nature.

It found that all allegations were proven and said they “amount to unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”.

The report added: “The panel finds that the conduct of Mr Hindson fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession. The findings of misconduct are serious as they include a secondary school teacher conducting sexually motivated YouTube searches that were consistently focused on teenagers, with repeated reference to “teens”, and allowing several of those search terms to be displayed to pupils during a lesson.”

The panel did however say that the former teacher, who has since stepped down as a church warden, had expressed remorse.

It said: “The panel considered Mr Hindson’s written submissions and found them to be very credible and persuasive.

“The panel considered that Mr Hindson expressed remorse for his actions and insight into how his conduct may have affected the welfare of pupils and the impact on his colleagues and the school.

“The panel found it persuasive that Mr Hindson had stated “I am ashamed of my behaviour and the harm it has already caused to a number of students, and the potential it has for harming reputation of the teaching profession…”.

“The panel also acknowledged that Mr Hindson had actively removed himself from roles outside the teaching profession that involved children including stepping down as a church warden and as a member of the parochial church council.”

Addressing whether it believed Hindson should be banned it said: “The panel also again noted that a number of the search terms related to teenagers and sexual themes. The panel considered that any reasonable member of the public would regard it as wholly inappropriate for a teacher to search for such terms and, in particular, for pupils subsequently to be exposed to those terms, even inadvertently.”

It added: “The nature of the searches and the recurring “teenage” theme throughout was a significant factor in forming that opinion.

“Whilst the panel noted that not all of the search terms were overtly sexual in nature, it was concerned by the overall pattern of searches, in particular search terms such as “teen first time sex”, “twerking schools teens”, “teens having sex” and “good teen sex” and considered that the conduct would be viewed by members of the public as inappropriate for a teacher.

“The panel also noted that Mr Hindson had accepted that his conduct was of a sexual nature and sexually motivated. Accordingly, the panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect.”

The panel also heard that the police had determined Hindson’s conduct fell below the threshold of criminality.

Reacting to the report Michael Brewer, principal at Moreton Hall, said the school was proud of its pupils for speaking out over the issue, and that Hindson had been removed from contact with pupils the same day.

He said: "The individual concerned was dismissed from Moreton Hall in May 2025.

“In that same month, pupils raised a concern about something they had seen on a member of staff's screen during a lesson.

“They were listened to, the matter was investigated immediately, the member of staff was removed from contact with pupils the same day, and the school referred the case to the Local Area Designated Officer, the police, and the Teaching Regulation Agency at the earliest opportunity.

“We are proud of our pupils for speaking out as they did, and have nothing further to add.”