Unknown Teacher

The Secretary of State does not make these decisions herself. They are made by a senior official on the recommendation of an independent panel.

Teacher reference number:

1578050

Teacher's date of birth:

30 March 1973

Location teacher worked:

London

Date of professional conduct panel:

9 to 11 January 2017

Outcome type:

Prohibition order

Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with The Teacher's’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012, a professional conduct panel was convened to consider the case of Mr Andrew Fielding-Day, formerly employed in London.

The proceedings were held at The Study Inn, 175 Corporation Street, Coventry CV1 1GU at 9.30am on 9 to 11 January 2017.

Teacher misconduct

Ground Floor, South

Cheylesmore House

5 Quinton RoadCoventryCV1 2WT

Email TRA.Casework@education.gov.uk

Telephone 020 7593 5393

Information about regulating the teaching profession and the process for dealing with serious teacher misconduct.

Mr Andrew Fielding- Day: Professional conduct panel outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education January 2017 2 Contents A. Introduction 3 B. Allegations 3 C. Preliminary applications 5 D. Summary of evidence 5 Documents 5 Witnesses 6 E. Decision and reasons 6 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 19 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 21 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Mr Andrew Fielding-Day Teacher ref number: 1578050 Teacher date of birth: 30 March 1973 NCTL case reference: 14507 Date of determination: 11 January 2017 Former employer: DLD College, London A. Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (“the National College”) convened on 9 to 11 January 2017 at The Study Inn, 175 Corporation Street, Coventry CV1 1GU to consider the case of Mr Andrew Fielding- Day. The panel members were Mr Martin Pilkington (lay panellist – in the chair), Ms Hilary Jones (lay panellist) and Ms Fiona Tankard (teacher panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mr Robin Havard of Blake Morgan LLP solicitors. The presenting officer for the National College was Mr Christopher Geering of 2 Hare Court. Mr Andrew Fielding-Day was present and was represented by Mr Philip Dayle of No5 Chambers. The hearing took place in public and was recorded. B. Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the Notice of Proceedings dated 22 November 2016. It was alleged that Mr Andrew Fielding-Day was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in that: Whilst employed as a teacher at DLD College, London ("the College"): 1. In or around June 2011 you inappropriately exchanged text messages with Pupil A; 4 2. The messages referred to as 1. above included messages which were flirtatious in nature; 3. On one or more occasions you acted inappropriately in that you: a. Were intoxicated with pupils/consumed alcohol with pupils, b. Met/attempted to meet pupils socially, c. Discussed your sex life with pupils, d. Asked students about their sex lives, e. Communicated socially with Pupil B and/or Pupil E and/or other pupils using social media and/or email and/or mobile phone, f. In respect of Pupil E, these communications referred to at 3.e. above included messages of a flirtatious nature; 4. In or around April 2012, you attended a rehearsal or meeting at the College and behaved in an inappropriate manner in that you: a. Were intoxicated and/or consumed alcohol with pupil(s), b. Offered pupil(s) alcohol, c. In relation to 4.b. above, one or more of the pupils was under age to drink alcohol, d. Told Pupil B to act “as if you were begging to give him a blowjob”, or words to that effect, e. Asked Pupil B “have you never had a dick in your mouth”, or words to that effect, f. Asked Pupil B if she was a virgin, or words to that effect, g. Asked Pupil B “do you not touch yourself”, or words to that effect, h. Attempted to dance with Pupil B, i. Engaged in physical play fighting with Pupil E, j. Pinned Pupil E to the ground, k. Grabbed Pupil B by the hair and/or dragged her by the hair, l. By your actions at 4.i. and/or 4.j. and/or 4.k. above you caused injury to Pupil D and/or Pupil E; 5 5. You failed to maintain professional boundaries in that you: a. Developed an inappropriate/flirtatious relationship with Pupil E whilst she was at the College, b. Formed a sexual relationship with Pupil E, c. Went on holiday to Turkey with Pupil E, 6. Your conduct at paragraphs 1 and/or 2 and/or 3 and/or 4 and/or 5 was sexually motivated. Mr Fielding-Day admitted the facts of allegations 1, 2, 3.a., 3.e. and 4.a. He also admitted that, on the basis of those admitted facts, he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct likely to bring the profession into disrepute. The remaining allegations and particulars were denied. C. Preliminary applications Amendment The presenting officer applied to amend particular l. of allegation 4 so that it referred to Pupil B instead of Pupil D. In addition, the presenting officer withdrew particulars b. and c. of allegation 5. There was no objection on behalf of Mr Fielding-Day and therefore the panel granted the amendments. D. Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the hearing, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: Section 1: Chronology & anonymised pupil list, with page numbers from 2 to 4 Section 2: Notice of Proceedings & response, with page numbers from 6 to 13 Section 3: Witness Statements, with page numbers from 15 to 35 Section 4: National College for Teaching & Leadership Documents, with page numbers from 37 to 92 Section 5: Teacher Documents, with page numbers from 94 to 103. 6 The presenting officer applied to admit into evidence the staff conduct policy to which reference is made in the statement of Individual B and the letter from the College to Mr Andrew Fielding-Day of 27 June 2011 which sets out the decision that he should be given a final written warning. Mr Dayle did not object to the application and therefore the panel agreed that they should be admitted into evidence. Mr Dayle applied for permission from the panel to introduce into evidence a witness statement of Andrew Fielding-Day and character references. There was no objection from the presenting officer and the panel granted Mr Dayle's application. The additional documents submitted by the presenting officer were paginated 35A to 35H. The documents introduced by Mr Dayle were paginated 104 to 114. The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents in advance of the hearing. Witnesses The panel heard oral evidence from: Pupil B who was a former pupil at the college and called by the presenting officer; Individual A, director of studies, pastoral and academic, at the college, called by the presenting officer; Individual B, principal of the college, called by the presenting officer. Mr Fielding-Day gave evidence on his own behalf. E. Decision and reasons The panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: The panel had carefully considered the case before it and had reached a decision. The panel confirmed that it had read all the documents provided in the bundle in advance of the hearing. Brief Summary The College has approximately 330 students. The age of the students ranges from 15 to 20 years with the majority of pupils aged between 16 and 18 years, studying GCSE and A level programmes predominantly. It is a well-established fee paying college. 7 Mr Fielding-Day had worked for a number of years at the College and, throughout the material time, was the Director of Drama. In June 2011, an investigation took place with regard to Mr Fielding-Day relating to a series of inappropriate text messages exchanged with a pupil at the College, Pupil A. At the conclusion of the investigation, Mr Fielding-Day was issued with a final written warning. In August 2014, a disclosure was made to the Principal, Individual B, relating to an incident involving Pupil B. The matter was reported to the police but, following an investigation, no further action was taken. A disciplinary procedure took place in the college. On 14 October 2014, Mr Fielding-Day resigned from his post as director of drama at the College before the disciplinary process had reached a conclusion. Findings of fact Our findings of fact are as follows: The panel found the following particulars of the allegations against Mr Fielding-Day proven, for these reasons: Whilst employed as a teacher at DLD College, London ("the College"): 1. In or around June 2011 you inappropriately exchanged text messages with Pupil A; This allegation was admitted and the panel found it proved. A part-transcript of the texts had been prepared by Individual A and the following exchanges were agreed by Mr Fielding-Day; 3rd June 2011 – 06 - 15 AF stop working you are better than that AF we should also have dinner to find out stuff x if you feel able to AF Are you any good at the massage? I'm gonna pay AF I thought about helping you out on the quiet Pupil A help me out? I'm confused 8 AF That's about the long and short of it. But it needs to be regular x AF You don’t have to AF Exactly only £25 is a great deal. There's nothing that wrong with it. We're not shagging for fux sake AF Holy shit Pupil A. I've just seen my blackberry a so called "friend"… etc 4 June Pupil A you were pissed last night AF Hmm yes oops a daisy… AF Pupil A I see you have a gap tomorrow English and Drama shall we use… say 127 X???? xx?? X???? Pupil A "unfit for w-" AF "W – What (list of playful saucy ideas) AF Actually thinking of W's without being rude is quite hard. Hope you're feeling better 12 June AF We are in Notting Hill and thought about you Pupil A We? AF Me and me. Let's have drinks ([another pupil] was with her) AF Ooh well best I stay where I am there then otherwise trouble occurs X In a letter to the Principal of the College dated 21 June 2011, Mr Fielding-Day confirmed that he had exchanged these messages with Pupil A "… and because of my being in a heightened state of intoxication owing to alcohol intake, that discussion thread developed into an unprofessional one". The panel had taken into consideration the fact that this was not an isolated incident and inappropriate exchanges had taken place at Mr Fielding-Day's instigation on 3 separate occasions, namely 3, 4 and 12 June 2011. 9 2. The messages referred to as 1. above included messages which were flirtatious in nature; This allegation was admitted by Mr Fielding-Day and the panel found it proved. The panel