Mr Dale Chad Wills

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

Teacher's name: Mr Dale Chad Wills

Teacher reference number: 3861670

Teacher's date of birth: 27 November 1981

Location teacher worked: Marlborough, South West England

Date of professional conduct panel: 10 to 17 May 2024 and 20 to 22 August 2024

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 Dale Chad Wills formerly employed in Marlborough, South West England

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 Dale Chad Wills: Professional conduct panel hearing outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education May 2024 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 4 Preliminary applications 7 Summary of evidence 12 Documents 12 Witnesses 13 Decision and reasons 13 Findings of fact 14 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 55 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 60 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Mr Dale Wills Teacher ref number: 3861670 Teacher date of birth: 27 November 1981 T RA reference: 20409 Date of determination: 22 August 2024 Former employer: Marlborough College, Marlborough Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (“the TRA”) convened between 10 and 17 May 2024, and between 20 and 22 August 2024, by virtual means, to consider the case of Mr Dale Wills. The panel members were Ms Mona Sood (Lay panellist – in the chair), Mrs Shabana Robertson (Lay panellist) and Mrs Julie Wells (Teacher panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Miss Shanie Probert of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP solicitors. The presenting officer for the TRA was Ms Sarah Vince of Browne Jacobson LLP solicitors. Mr Wills was present and was represented by Mr Robert Tizzard. The hearing took place by way of a virtual hearing in public and was recorded. 4 Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the Notice of Proceedings dated 29 February 2024. It was alleged that Mr Wills was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in that: Whilst employed as a Teacher of Academic Music at the Marlborough College between September 2019 and August 2021; 1. He engaged in inappropriate behaviour by; a. vaping in the vicinity of pupils and/or on the school’s premises; b. allowing one or more individuals to vape in the vicinity of pupils on the school’s premises; c. facilitating and/or permitting one or more pupils to vape; d. consuming alcohol outside of the school’s premises with one or more pupils; e. informing a member of staff Pupil B was involved in an event to permit him to miss athletics when in fact this was not the case on or around April 2021; 2. His conduct as may be found proven at allegation 1e lacked integrity and/or was dishonest; 3. He failed to maintain professional boundaries with Pupil B, by; a. sending one or more Microsoft Teams messages to Pupil B making inappropriate comments, including; i. ‘fuck’ and/or ‘fucking’ on one or more occasions; ii. ‘shit’ and/or ‘crap’ on one or more occasions; iii. “love you” on one or more occasions; iv. ending one or more messages with ‘X’ to indicate a kiss/kisses; v. referring to Pupil B as his “boi” and/or his on one or more occasions; vi. “if you get sent home, I’m adopting you” on or around 30 October 2020; vii. “hope you’re massively hungovah” on or around 1 January 2021; viii. “do I need to phone childline” on or around 16 January 2021; ix. “pack your bags… you’re coming to live here” on or around 16 January 2021; x. “cus you know I will fight anyone” on or around 27 February 2021;5 xi. “listen…are you getting any shit from your [REDACTED]?” on or around 27 February 2021; xii. “nobody gets to fuck with my family” on or around 7 April 2021; xiii. “you are my favourite person” on or around 21 April 2021; xiv. “that is seriously secksy btw” on or around 9 May 2021; xv. “bollocks” on or around 19 May 2021; xvi. “that is secksy as fuck” on or around 3 June 2021; b. encouraging Pupil B to purchase alcohol and/or providing Pupil B with a form of identification to use to purchase alcohol in or around 2020; c. sending Pupil B a gift for his birthday in or around January 2021; d. agreeing to provide financial assistance to Pupil B on or around 4 January 2021; e. implying to Pupil B that he would stab Pupil B and/or another individual with a knife on or around 7 April 2021; f. offering alcoholic inducements on or around 19 May 2021; g. indicating Pupil B’s A-level mark on or around 1 June 2021; h. suggesting he would purchase a wifi booster for Pupil B’s birthday on or around 2 June 2021; i. providing Pupil B with the code to access the music staff room on or around 21 June 2021; j. completing one or more assignments for Pupil B; 4. He failed to maintain professional boundaries with Pupil G, by; a. sending one or more Microsoft Teams messages to Pupil G making inappropriate comments to the effect of; i. “crap boi” on or around 14 December 2020; ii. “badass” on or around 23 March 2021; b. permitting Pupil G to place his head on his lap; 5. He failed to maintain professional boundaries with Pupil H, by; a. sending one or more Microsoft Teams messages to Pupil H making inappropriate comments, including; i. ‘shit’ on one or more occasions; ii. “love you” on one or more occasions; iii. referring to Pupil H as ‘boi’ and/or ‘muscleboi’;6 iv. “I could make some pun about banging…but that would be beneath both of us” on or around 4 May 2020; v. “secksyboi” with reference to Pupil H on or around 16 July 2020; vi. “nobody fucks with mi boi” on or around 6 October 2020; vii. “mate he hates senior mgnt more than I do” on or around 10 October 2020; viii. “I mean, if you just wanted to admire the abs a bit more, I’m sure we’ve got a mirror somewhere we’re not using” on or around 19 October 2020; ix. “you look like you’d fuck me up in a dark alley” on or around 27 February 2021; x. “just missing ya and want to smoke” on or around 3 March 2021; xi. “I hope you get all the love in the world today” on or around 19 March 2021; xii. “I wish I’d known that the cropped-haired lil dude who opened the door to me and [individual X] on our induction weekend was gonna become such a massive part of my life, and an even bigger part of my heart” on or around 19 March 2021; xiii. “I’ll never say anything, but the offer’s there if it helps” on or around 24 March 2021; xiv. ‘fuck’ and/or ‘crap’ in or around March 2021; xv. “was it worth sacrificing your penis size” on or around 14 April 2021; xvi. “and lastly, and most importantly, you are my favourite human being. Like you make me happy just by walking into a fucking room. You got in the middle of my heart, lad. I’m such a massive fan of yours” on or around 2 May 2021; xvii. “you know you mean the world to me” on or around 2 May 2021; xviii. “you are one of those people who I hope I always know, and I never want to let go of” on or around 2 May 2021; xix. “even if ima grumpy fuck sometimes” on or around 2 May 2021; b. agreeing to Pupil H that he would confirm [Pupil H] was picking up a keyboard when in fact he knew this was not the case on or around 10 October 2020; c. providing Pupil H with his home address; d. organising to meet and/or meeting Pupil H outside the school’s premises; e. completing one or more assignments for Pupil H and/or Pupil H’s friend; 7 f. agreeing to purchase Pupil H and/or providing Pupil H with cigarettes; g. providing Pupil H with alcohol; h. discussing Pupil H’s relationships; 6. He failed to safeguard Pupil B and/or placed Pupil B at risk by not reporting to the school that Pupil B may have consumed cannabis on or around 8 December 2020. Initially, in Mr Wills’ response to the notice of proceedings dated 3 March 2024, he did not admit any of the allegations. However, during the hearing, Mr Wills admitted the following allegations: 1(c), 3(a)(i)- (xvi), 3(c), 3(d), 3(e), 3(f), 3(h), 3(i), 3(j), 4(a)(i)-(ii), 5(a)(i)-(xix), 5(b), 5(c), 5(e), 5(f) and 5(h). Mr Wills did not admit the following allegations: 1(a), 1(b), 1(d), 1(e), 2, 3(b), 3(g), 4(b), 5(d), 5(g), and 6. For the allegations that were admitted, Mr Wills admitted that some but not all of his conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Preliminary applications Amendment to the allegations An application was made by the presenting officer to amend the Notice of Proceedings by amending: • Allegation 3(a)(iv) to amend the words “‘X’ to indicate a kiss/kisses” to the words “with a love heart emoji”; • Allegation 3(i) to amend the date “21 June 2021” to “13 June 2021”; • Allegation 4(a)(i) to amend the date “14 December 2020” to “4 December 2020”; • Allegation 4(a)(ii) to include the additional words “sending references commenting upon slang terms and/or euphemisms for [REDACTED]”; • Allegation 5(a)(vi) to amend the word “mi” to “my”; and • Allegation 5(f) to include the additional words “and/or vape products” at the end. The panel noted that under paragraph 5.83 of the Teacher Misconduct: Disciplinary Procedures for the Teaching Profession updated May 2020 (the “Procedures”) it has the capacity to, in the interests of justice, amend an allegation or the particulars of an 8 allegation, at any stage before making its decision about whether the facts of the case have been found proved. Before making any amendments, the panel was required to consider any representations by the presenting officer and by the teacher’s representative. The parties were afforded that opportunity. The teacher’s representative opposed the application on the grounds that it was made less than 24 hours before the hearing, and that the teacher had worked hard to respond to the allegations as they were drafted. In particular, the teacher opposed the proposed amendment to allegation 4(a)(ii) on the basis that this was prejudicial to the teacher as it referred to [REDACTED]. The panel considered that the proposed amendments to allegations 3(a)(iv), 3(i), 4(a)(i), 5(a)(vi) and 5(f) did not change the nature, scope or seriousness of the allegations. In particular, the proposed amendments to allegations 3(i), 4(a)(i), 5(a)(vi) and 5(f) were to