A school worker went off sick after faking that she was injured attempting the lift scene from movie Dirty Dancing, a hearing was told.
Teaching assistant Rachel Davies, 29, took time off from her classroom by claiming she injured her knee copying the dance move acted out by Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. But she was caught dancing again on Snapchat while on sick leave and is now appearing before an Education Workforce Council (EWC) fitness to practise committee.
The hearing on Tuesday was told Ms Davies claimed she couldn’t work as teaching assistant at Wrexham Early Years Centre after the injury.
Presenting officer Sara Lewis said: “While she was absent a staff member became aware of a video on Snapchat which showed Davies dancing when she was supposed to be off work with an injury to her knee.”
The hearing was told Davies had been a classroom assistant for 10 years before going on sick leave in 2019 due to an injury to her knee.
A fellow teacher at the centre, Rachel Costeloe, was appointed to investigate her conduct. Miss Costeloe said: “In June 2019 I was asked to investigate concerns raised by other staff at the school.
“She had been off work on sick leave with an injured knee. She said she had done a lift from Dirty Dancing and had hurt her knee.
“A staff member had seen a video on Snapchat of Davies dancing. It was posted by her partner.
“The video was concerning as it showed that Davies could dance on her knee despite her saying she could not work on it.
“During my meeting with her she admitted that she was the person in the video. She said she was hopping on one leg but in the video I could clearly see her running on both legs.”
The hearing was also told Ms Davies also broke school policy by adding parents at the school as friends on Instagram.
Miss Costeloe added: “It was discussed when put our policies together that we would not interact with parents on social media. Davies was a part of those discussions and was aware of the policy.
“It was shared with head teacher Rhian Hughes that Davies had interacted with a number of parents on social media. During my meeting she confirmed she was in touch with parents at the school on social media. It is against the policy to be friends with parents of children at the school.”
Ms Davies is also accused of posting letters from her employer Wrexham Council on social media with comments such as: “Instead of f***ing fining me... why not offer to help get my daughter in school?”
Another letter from the council was posted with the caption: “Kiss my fat a*** I’ve paid the feeking thing”.
The hearing was told that Ms Davies, who failed to attend the remote hearing on Tuesday, admitted the allegations against her. Her behaviour is alleged to have amounted to unacceptable professional conduct.
The hearing continues.
