Mr Matthew Clare

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 Matthew Clare

Teacher reference number: 1138004

Teacher's date of birth: 19 July 1988

Location teacher worked: East London, East of England

Date of professional conduct panel: 28 May 2024 to 3 June 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 Matthew Clare, formerly employed in East London, East of 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 Matthew Clare: Professional conduct panel hearing outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education June 2024 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 3 Preliminary applications 4 Summary of evidence 5 Documents 5 Witnesses 5 Decision and reasons 5 Findings of fact 6 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 17 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 Matthew Clare Teacher ref number: 1138004 Teacher date of birth: 19 July 1988 TRA reference: 20280 Date of determination: 3 June 2024 Former employer: [REDACTED] Introduction A professional conduct panel (‘the panel’) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (‘the TRA’) convened on 28 May 2024 to 3 June 2024 by way of a virtual hearing, to consider the case of Mr Matthew Clare. The panel members were Mrs Melissa West (teacher panellist – in the chair), Mr Paul Hawkins (lay panellist) and Ms Debra Vaughan (lay panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mrs Samantha Cass of Birketts LLP solicitors. The presenting officer for the TRA was Mr Ben Bentley of Browne Jacobson LLP solicitors. Mr Clare was present and was represented by Ms Megan Fletcher-Smith of Cornwall Street Chambers. The hearing took place by way of a virtual hearing in public and was recorded. Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the notice of proceedings dated 18 March 2024. It was alleged that Mr Clare was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in that between July 2019 and February 2020: 1. He was a member of a WhatsApp group chat alongside 3 of his colleagues in which he 4 a) Received and/or sent inappropriate messages which discussed his female colleagues in a way which was i) Sexually objectifying ii) Homophobic iii) Misogynistic iv) Denigrating b) Received and/or sent inappropriate messages, the contents of which were racist c) Engaged in inappropriate discussion about Individual A, a parent of a child at the School, in which he received messages to the effect of: i) ‘I feel so sorry for her husband. Having to put his meat in that cunt. I’d argue it’s worse than prison.’ ii) ‘She is now top of the cunt list’ d) Engaged in inappropriate discussion about students at the School in which he received messages to the effect of ‘does she expect me to stand next to her deformed kid 24-7’ 2. Your conduct as may be found proven at allegation 1(a)(i) was of a sexual nature. The panel noted that Mr Clare partially admitted the particulars of allegations 1(a) and 1(b) and denied allegations 1(c)(i), 1(c)(ii), 1(d) and 2, as set out in the statement of agreed and disputed facts, signed by Mr Clare’s representative on the 16 February 2023. Mr Clare neither admitted nor denied that his behaviour amounted to unacceptable conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Preliminary applications Application for part of the hearing to be heard in private The panel considered an application from Mr Clare made on his behalf by his representative, Ms Megan Fletcher-Smith, that parts of the hearing [REDACTED] should be heard in private. The panel heard submissions from the presenting officer on the application before reaching its decision. The presenting officer did not have an objection to the application. 5 The panel granted the application. The panel considered it was not contrary to the public interest for the parts of the hearing, which were the subject of the application, to be heard in private. The panel considered that the areas covered in the application legitimately related to aspects of [REDACTED] and there was no contrary public interest in those areas being discussed in private. The hearing was still being held in public and these were discrete and limited areas which would not undermine the public's ability to otherwise understand the case. The panel therefore granted the application. Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the hearing, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: • Section 1: Chronology and anonymised pupil list – pages 7 to 18 • Section 2: Statement of agreed and disputed facts – pages 23 to 28 • Section 3: TRA witness statements – pages 30 to 438 • Section 4: TRA documents – pages 440 to 510 • Section 5: Teacher documents – pages 512 to 843. The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents within the bundle, in advance of the hearing. Witnesses The panel did not hear any oral evidence from anyone on behalf of the TRA. Decision and reasons The panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: The panel carefully considered the case before it and reached a decision. On 24 March 2021, the Metropolitan police released a series of extraction reports to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) highlighting some WhatsApp group messages that had been extracted from a phone belonging to Mr Clare’s colleague. 6 Mr Clare had allegedly participated in a WhatsApp group with his colleagues between July 2019 and February 2020 in which he exchanged messages that were alleged to be inappropriate. On 1 April 2021 Mr Clare was suspended from [REDACTED] (‘the School’). On 26 April 2021 a disciplinary investigation meeting was held with Mr Clare. On 21 May 2021 Mr Clare resigned from the School. On 16 September 2021 the matter was referred to the TRA. Findings of fact The findings of fact are as follows: 1. You were a member of a WhatsApp group chat alongside 3 of your colleagues in which you a) Received and/or sent inappropriate messages which discussed your female colleagues in a way which was i) Sexually objectifying The panel noted that Mr Clare admitted this allegation. However, the panel considered the documentary evidence and messages in the bundle when considering this allegation and made its own determination. The panel considered the copies of the messages within the WhatsApp group chat to which Mr Clare was a party, and noted, in particular, the following messages in the bundle: • Page 114 – Mr Clare mentioning “The nip clockers” resulting in the WhatsApp Group name later being changed to this. • Page 119 – Mr Clare commenting “Yer couldn’t stop clocking” in response to a question regarding “nips.” • Page 120 - Mr Clare sending a message in the WhatsApp Group discussing one of his female colleagues and saying “Tits looked cracking tho.” • Page 120 – Mr Clare receiving a response commenting that “That rack alone makes her top 2 material.” 7 • Page 124 to 125 – A discussion around “Do you reckon all the women from work have a gc talking about our massive shlongs???” to which Mr Clare responded “Haha hopefully!!!” and “Is that sexual assault?” • Page 128 - Mr Clare sending messages regarding a colleague, saying “Clocked the Ns massively as coming in from lunch. This cold weather”. • Page 129 – Mr Clare receiving a response commenting on another female colleague that “…she’d top [REDACTED] on the dirty scale” and “she’d be a dirty fuck.” • Page 207 to 247 - A continuous discussion between 19:09 and 19:41 on 1 November 2019 (150 messages), which started with a message received by Mr Clare about a female colleague which stated “[REDACTED] is pure filth though” and then proceeded to talk about a female colleague being “fuck buddy material” and “the dirtiest shag.” The panel noted that within this discussion Mr Clare would respond with either “haha,” “lol” or “Def.” The panel noted that Mr Clare commented that there were “…lots of attractive ones at work.” The panel considered the written statement of [REDACTED] who stated that, during Mr Clare’s investigation meeting, he agreed that it was reasonable to conclude that he was a contributor to the WhatsApp group, although he felt that he did not instigate any of the messages. They stated that Mr Clare accepted that it was reasonable to conclude that the messages sent and/or received by him involved sexual objectification. The panel considered the oral evidence and written statement of Mr Clare, who stated that another member of the WhatsApp group had been the dominant figure in the friendship group, leading and driving the inappropriate conversations. He stated that the other members of the group did not discuss the topics with each other individually, or when that particular member was no longer in the group. Mr Clare explained that this individual increasingly introduced conversations around their female colleagues’ physical characteristics, which became increasingly objectified. He stated that when he first did this he was surprised, but due to the way they often made fun of each other in a cheeky manner he did not think to challenge it and joined in. Mr Clare stated that he was ashamed that he joined in and that he felt the need to contribute to the conversation and to show off in the group. He stated that he has not and would never act on the words mentioned in the comments. He further stated that the group seemed to take place in a sort of “alternative reality”. The panel considered Mr Clare’s oral evidence within which he stated that some of the words used, in particular “kinky slut” were not words that he would use although the panel noted that there was an occasion where he had in fact used the word “kinky”. Mr Clare also said that he felt ashamed, disgusted, embarrassed and shocked reading the 8 messages back. Mr Clare acknowledged that he should have called out the behaviour, left the WhatsApp group chat and reported the messages to [REDACTED]. Mr Clare accepted that this was inappropriate behaviour and that in joining in with the chat and responding to some of the messages he could have made this behavio