A primary-school teacher who asked girls in his class to go on dates has been banned from his profession for life.
Carl Dixon, 62, sent secret and personalised notes to pupils, asked one on a date and touched a child’s bottom, a conduct panel heard.
Mr Dixon, who worked at Davies Lane Primary School near Stratford, northeast London, also pressured a pupil to give him a hug and asked children to join him in lunch “in circumstances of secrecy, including asking pupils to hide”, the Teaching Regulation Agency was told.
The panel’s judgement reveals that he had misled his employer in 2018 when he applied for the job, by answering ‘no’ to the question “Have you ever been known to any children’s services department or police as being a risk or potential risk to children?”
He had denied a string of allegations that he failed to “maintain appropriate professional boundaries with one or more pupils” while at the school from 29 November 2017 and 7 January 2020.
The claims involved serious dishonesty, coercive behaviour and sexually motivated conduct in touching a child’s bottom, the judgement said.
Mr Dixon, who quit the job in January 2020 and was sacked in February this year, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
The panel found he sent personalised and secret notes to pupils during lessons, and stuck notes on the back of pupils’ books and either took notes back or disposed of them afterwards.
The panel found Mr Dixon had asked a child, referred to as Pupil 9, on a date.
A handwritten note of a school assistant stated that two girls had told her he had behaved inappropriately towards pupils in his class “by asking girls to go on dates”.
The same girl said he “used to hug people sometimes” and she confirmed that included her when asked.
A contemporaneous handwritten note recorded another child, Pupil 10, stating that Pupil 9 had said that Mr Dixon was “touching her butt”. The panel found the claim he touched Pupil 9’s bottom proven on the balance of probabilities.
Another note from a witness recorded Pupil 10 also saying that during a class party, Mr Dixon said, “If I have a hug from Child A, you can do anything you want”.
The panel found the allegation he pressured Pupil 9 to hug him proven on the balance of probabilities.
The judgement says: “The panel found that Mr Dixon’s failure to take responsibility for his actions, which occurred over a significant period of time, provides evidence of a real risk of repetition.”
Explaining why he was banned for life, it adds: “The panel considered that the very serious nature of the findings of Mr Dixon’s inappropriate behaviour with pupils in sending secret notes to pupils and engaging in behaviour of a sexual nature, including asking a pupil on a date, hugging a pupil and pressuring a pupil to hug him, weighed in favour of not offering a review period.”
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