A teacher has been banned from the classroom after he threw a student into the playground.
Joseph Luttman, then a teacher at Marland School, Barnstaple, was accused of pushing a pupil, (Pupil A) in a way which caused him to fall to the floor, then pushing him away a second time before throwing him out of an open doorway into the playground outside, causing him to land on his back.
Pupil A’s mother emailed the school on 7 September 2023 asking for a summary of what had happened and why she had not been asked to sign an accident form. The next day, she sent an email alleging her son had said he had been hurt by a member of staff and he had bruises, scrapes and marks on his body and head.
A multi-agency strategy meeting was convened days later, involving officers of the school, the Local Authority Designated Officer, and the police.
Mr Luttman accepted a police caution in relation to his conduct in January 2024 related to an assault by beating contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 that had taken place on the date of the incident at the school.
The Teaching Regulations Agency (TRA) agreed to a request from Mr Luttman for the allegations to be shared without a hearing; the former teacher provided a signed statement of agreed facts and admitted unacceptable professional conduct.
In a statement of agreed facts, Mr Luttman admitted that Pupils A and B had been chasing each other around a classroom during a lesson he was teaching. He said he had pushed Pupil A, who had fallen to the floor. When Pupil A got up, he said he pushed them into Pupil B twice.
Mr Luttman said he had picked up Pupil A by the right arm and shoulder, using both arms to lift them up and thrown them out of an open doorway onto the garden area outside. When Pupil A tried to let their mother know about the incident, he poked and tickled the student while they were in a car seat.
Responding to an email from Pupil A’s mother, the assistant head teacher said “no accidents were reported, the closest thing Joe could think of to this was when he and Pupil A bumped into each other in the garden, as reported to you, but there was no injury and they had a giggle about it.”
A further email stated Mr Luttman hadn’t reported bumping into Pupil A, and when the student had tried to inform her what happened, the teacher had distracted him with a tickle.
The panel found Mr Luttman had fallen “significantly short of the standards expected of the profession” and breached safeguarding guidance including the Keeping Children Safe in Education
Mr Luttman’s physical actions towards Pupil A were described as “threatening and intimidating, given that these were actions by an adult against a young child as well as being inappropriate.”
CCTV footage by the panel revealed that the teacher had not used what could be considered “reasonable force”, and the TRA said it had been “inappropriate for him to have sought to distract Pupil A from reporting the incident to his mother.”
Mr Luttman was prohibited from teaching indefinitely and will not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach,
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