Mr Jacob Woodland

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 Jacob Woodland

Teacher reference number: 1789857

Teacher's date of birth: 13 June 1997

Location teacher worked: Lancaster, North West England

Date of professional conduct panel: 5 May 2026

Outcome type: Prohibition

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 Jacob Woodland, formerly employed in Lancaster, North 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.

OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Mr Jacob Woodland: Professional conduct panel meeting outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education May 2026 2 OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 3 Summary of evidence 4 Documents 4 Statement of agreed facts 5 Decision and reasons 5 Findings of fact 5 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 12 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 18 3 OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Mr Jacob Woodland Teacher ref number: 1789857 Teacher date of birth: 13 June 1997 TRA reference: 24865 Date of determination: 5 May 2026 Former employer: Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy, Lancaster Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (“the TRA”) convened on 5 May 2026 by way of a virtual meeting, to consider the case of Mr Jacob Woodland. The panel members were Ms Geraldine Baird (lay panellist – in the chair), Mrs Christine McLintock (teacher panellist) and Mr Patrick Berry (teacher panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mrs Charlotte Belcher of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP Solicitors. In advance of the meeting, after taking into consideration the public interest and the interests of justice, the TRA agreed to a request from Mr Woodland that the allegations be considered without a hearing. Mr Woodland provided a signed statement of agreed facts and admitted that this amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct which brought the profession into disrepute. The panel considered the case at a meeting without the attendance of the presenting officer, Ms Louise Murphy-King of Kingsley Napley solicitors, or Mr Woodland. The meeting took place in private and was not recorded. Allegations The panel considered the allegation set out in the notice of meeting dated 19 February 2026. It was alleged that Mr Woodland was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in that whilst working as a Teacher 4 OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE and/or the Subject Leader for Physics and/or Head of York House at Ripley St. Thomas Church of England Academy (‘the Academy’): 1. On a date or dates prior to 24 August 2024, he accessed publicly available images of pupils at the Academy taken from Instagram for his own pleasure, including in respect of those pupils listed in Schedule A. 2. His conduct at paragraph 1 was sexual in nature and/or sexually motivated. Schedule A: i. Pupil A; ii. Pupil B; iii. Pupil C; and/or iv. Pupil D. Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the hearing, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: Section 1: Chronology, List of Key People and Anonymised Pupil List – pages 5 to 7 Section 2: Notice of referral and response – pages 8 to 11 Section 3: Statement of agreed facts and presenting officer representations – pages 12 to 16 Section 4: Teaching Regulation Agency documents – pages 17 to 426 Section 5: Teacher documents – pages 427 to 447 Section 6: Notice of Meeting – pages 448 to 449 The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents within the bundle, in advance of the hearing. In the consideration of this case, the panel had regard to the document Teacher misconduct: Disciplinary procedures for the teaching profession 2020, (the “Procedures”). 5 OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Statement of agreed facts The panel considered a statement of agreed facts which was signed by Mr Woodland on 29 November 2025. Decision and reasons The panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: The panel carefully considered the case before it and reached a decision. In advance of the meeting, the TRA agreed to a request from Mr Woodland for the allegations to be considered without a hearing. The panel had the ability to direct that the case be considered at a hearing if required in the interests of justice or in the public interest. The panel did not determine that such a direction was necessary or appropriate in this case. Mr Woodland was employed as a teacher of science at Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy (“the Academy”) from 1 September 2019. On 24 August 2024 Mr Woodland made a disclosure to the acting head of school at the Academy. Mr Woodland was suspended from the Academy on 25 August 2024. Mr Woodland resigned from the Academy on 9 October 2024. Findings of fact The findings of fact are as follows: The panel found the following particulars of the allegations against you proved, for these reasons: You are guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in that whilst working as a Teacher and/or the Subject Leader for Physics and/or Head of York House at Ripley St. Thomas Church of England Academy (‘the Academy’): 1. On a date or dates prior to 24 August 2024, you accessed publicly available images of pupils at the Academy taken from Instagram for your own pleasure, including in respect of those pupils listed in Schedule A. Schedule A: i. Pupil A; ii. Pupil B; 6 OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE iii. Pupil C; and/or iv. Pupil D. In the signed statement of agreed facts, Mr Woodland admitted that he accessed publicly available images of pupils at the Academy taken from Instagram for his own pleasure, including Pupil A, Pupil B, Pupil C and Pupil D, whilst working as a teacher at the Academy. The agreed facts set out substantial background to the case and the panel noted that Mr Woodland admitted to all of the facts, including: • He made a disclosure to Individual A, former deputy headteacher at the Academy on 24 August 2024. • His agreement that a copy of the letter he handed to Individual A during the meeting was provided as Exhibit 9, Appendix 2 which was in the panel’s bundle. • The ages of Pupils A, B, C and D and whether he taught them. • He accessed the images using his personal Instagram account or using a website called Pic UK. • He searched for female pupils. • He told Individual A his conduct took place over a period of years. • He told Individual A that the images were clothed or partially unclothed, and some of the images may have been images of the pupils wearing a bikini. • He told Individual A that the conduct had stopped and he recognised the need for professional support with his [REDACTED], which he confirmed in his written statement for these proceedings dated 9 January 2026. • The concerns were investigated by the police, he attended an interview where he answered ‘no comment’ to all questions and no further police action was taken. The facts set out above aligned with a statement prepared by Mr Woodland and provided to Individual A during a meeting on 24 August 2024, which stated “I am truly sorry but I have done something inappropriate and I cannot live with myself without being honest. I have looked at publicly available Instagram content of some senior female pupils at school and used these to fantasise for my own pleasure.” The panel noted that Mr Woodland had been consistent throughout in relation to the incident, from his self- disclosure to Individual A during the meeting, through the investigation, and to these proceedings. 7 OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OFFICIAL - FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The panel also considered the signed witness statement of Individual A dated 26 September 2025 who confirmed: “Jacob Woodland contacted me in the morning on Saturday 24 August 2024 and told me that he had something that he needed to share with me… I arranged to meet Jacob Woodland at a neutral location in a public car park next to Morecambe Golf Club, on the promenade at Morecambe and he handed me a piece of paper to share what he wanted to tell me. I then had a conversation with Jacob Woodland and asked him about some of the things he had implied within the statement he had provided to me… I asked Jacob Woodland where he accessed the pictures from and he told me that they were from Instagram, accessed using his personal Instagram account and a website called Pic UK, where he advised me that it is possible to access publicly available profiles… I asked Jacob Woodland if he could identify any pupils and initially, he told me that it was pupils in [REDACTED]. I probed deeper and he then admitted that there were some pupils that had only just left [REDACTED], and it was obvious that they were younger than initially indicated. Jacob Woodland provided me with the names of four pupils: Pupil A, Pupil B, Pupil C and Pupil D….there were pupils who had previously left school whose images he had looked at. However, he only provided me with the names of the four pupils: Pupil A, Pupil B, Pupil C and Pupil D. Therefore, there were other pupils from previous years that will have been in the same position as these named pupils however, we did not know who they were to be able to inform them.” The panel noted that this evidence was consistent with the statement Individual A provided to the police on 7 October 2024. The panel noted however that they had not been provided with these images and none had been found on Mr Woodland’s devices during the course of the police investigation. Mr Woodland was clear throughout that the images were of pupils, that they were obtained from Instagram and were publicly accessible, and that he had fantasised about them for his own pleasure. Taking account of all of the evidence before it, the panel found that, on th