Mrs Angela Bryer

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: Mrs Angela Bryer

Teacher reference number: 00/50909

Teacher's date of birth: 3 July 1962

Location teacher worked: Manchester, England.

Date of professional conduct panel: 29 September 2022

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 Mrs Angela Bryer, formerly employed in Manchester, 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.

Mrs Angela Bryer: Professional conduct panel meeting outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education 29 September 2022 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 4 Preliminary applications 4 There were no preliminary applications. 4 Documents 4 Decision and reasons 5 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 11 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 14 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Mrs Angela Bryer Teacher ref number: 00/50909 Teacher date of birth: 3 July 1962 TRA reference: 0018859 Date of determination: 29 September 2022 Former employer: St Edmunds Roman Catholic Primary School, Manchester Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (“the TRA”) convened on 29 September 2022 via Microsoft Teams to consider the case of Mrs Angela Bryer. The panel members were Mrs Shabana Robertson (lay panellist – in the chair), Mr Aidan Jenkins (teacher panellist) and Mrs Rosemary Joyce (teacher panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mr Sam Bumby of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP. In advance of the meeting, after taking into consideration the public interest and the interests of justice, the TRA agreed to a request from Mrs Bryer that the allegations be considered without a hearing. Mrs Bryer provided a signed statement of agreed facts and admitted unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. The panel considered the case at a meeting without the attendance of the presenting officer Louise Ravenscroft, Mrs Bryer or Mrs Bryer’s representative, Denise Robinson. The meeting took place in private. 4 Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the notice of meeting dated 15 July 2022 (as amended in the notice of meeting dated 27 September 2022). It was alleged that Mrs Bryer was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in that, whilst a teacher at St Edmunds Roman Catholic Primary School: 1. On 16 May 2019, she slapped the cheek of Pupil A; 2. On 16 May 2019, she reported that physical contact with Pupil A’s cheek had been an accident: a. to Pupil A’s Class Teacher b. to Pupil A’s parents; c. in the School’s CPOMS system. 3. By her conduct in paragraph 2, she: a. was dishonest b. failed to act with integrity; 4. By her conduct in the foregoing paragraphs, she failed to maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour. Mrs Bryer in a statement of agreed facts dated 29 March 2022 admitted allegations 1 to 4. Mrs Bryer further admitted that the facts of the allegations amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Preliminary applications There were no preliminary applications. Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the meeting, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: Section 1: Chronology, anonymised pupil list and list of key people – pages 3 to 5 Section 2: Notice of referral, response and notice of meeting – pages 6 to 20 Section 3: Statement of Agreed Facts and Presenting Officer Representations – pages 21 to 27 5 Section 4: Teaching Regulation Agency documents – pages 28 to 94 Section 5: Teacher documents – pages 95 to 97 In addition, the panel agreed to accept the following: 1. An updated notice of meeting dated 27 September 2022 which contained allegation 2(c) and corrected an error in the date of the meeting; 2. An email confirmation from Mrs Bryer dated 28 September 2022 that she had accepted allegation 2(c) and was content for the hearing to proceed as planned; and 3. An email confirmation from Denise Robinson (Mrs Bryer’s representative) that she confirmed her agreement for the hearing to proceed as planned. The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents within the bundle in advance of the meeting and the additional documents admitted by the panel. Statement of agreed facts The panel considered a statement of agreed facts which was signed by Mrs Bryer on 29 March 2022. Decision and reasons The panel announced its decision and reasons as follows: The panel carefully considered the case and reached a decision. In advance of the meeting, the TRA agreed to a request from Mrs Bryer 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. Mrs Bryer had been employed at St Edmunds Roman Catholic Primary School since June 2001 and at the time of the allegations was working as a Reception teacher. On 16 May 2019, Pupil A was taken to Mrs Bryer by a teaching assistant because Pupil A was misbehaving in class. Mrs Bryer slapped Pupil A across the left side of his face. Later that day, Mrs Bryer inaccurately reported that the physical contact with Pupil A’s cheek was an accident to Pupil A’s class teacher, to Pupil A’s parent and in the School’s CPOMS system. Mrs Bryer resigned from the School on 9 September 2019. 6 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 a teacher at St Edmunds Roman Catholic Primary School: 1. On 16 May 2019, you slapped the cheek of Pupil A; The allegation was admitted and was supported by evidence presented to the panel within the bundle. In addition to the Statement of Agreed Facts referred to above, the panel also considered the disciplinary report by the School. There were statements and evidence collated during the course of the School’s investigation that were before the panel. In its determinations the panel did not take into account any of the investigation findings. The panel also considered the police disclosure which was in the bundle. The panel considered on the balance of probabilities that allegation 1 had been found proved, noting in particular: • the admission by Mrs Bryer in the Statement of Agreed Facts; • the written statement from Mrs Bryer in which she admitted that she had slapped the cheek of Pupil A; • the written statement from the teaching assistant who was also present corroborating the event; • the letter which Mrs Bryer wrote to Pupil A and their parent apologising for the fact that she had slapped the cheek of Pupil A; and • that Mrs Bryer had accepted a police caution for common assault arising out of the incident. 2. On 16 May 2019, you reported that physical contact with Pupil A’s cheek had been an accident a. to Pupil A’s Class Teacher The allegation was admitted and was supported by evidence presented to the panel within the bundle. The panel considered on the balance of probabilities that allegation 2(a) had been found proved, noting in particular: 7 • the admission by Mrs Bryer in the Statement of Agreed Facts; • the written statement from the class teacher which records that Mrs Bryer told her that the physical contact had happened accidentally; and • the summary of the key evidence in the police report which also states that this occurred. b. to Pupil A’s parents; The allegation was admitted and was supported by evidence presented to the panel within the bundle. The panel considered on the balance of probabilities that allegation 2(b) had been found proved, noting in particular: • the admission by Mrs Bryer in the Statement of Agreed Facts; • the written statement from the class teacher which records that Mrs Bryer attended a meeting with Pupil A’s parent and informed Pupil A’s parent that the physical contact was an accident; • the summary of the key evidence in the police report which states that Mrs Bryer told Pupil A’s parent that she had accidentally hit Pupil A; and • the letter which Mrs Bryer wrote to both Pupil A and to Pupil A’s parent apologising for not telling the truth. c. in the School’s CPOMS system The allegation was admitted and was supported by evidence presented to the panel within the bundle. The panel considered on the balance of probabilities that allegation 2(c) had been found proved, noting in particular the admission by Mrs Bryer in the Statement of Agreed Facts and Mrs Bryer’s entry on the CPOMS system from 16 May 2019, included in the bundle, which stated that the incident was accidental. 3. By your conduct in paragraph 2, you: a. were dishonest The allegation was admitted and was supported by evidence presented to the panel within the bundle. On the basis of the evidence in the bundle, the panel reached the conclusion that Mrs Bryer understood that the incident was not accidental, however subsequently lied to both Pupil A’s class teacher and Pupil A’s parent about that fact and recorded a false entry into the School’s CPOMS system at the end of the school day. 8 In addition to Mrs Bryer’s admission, the panel considered: • the teaching assistant’s statement, which stated that when the incident had occurred, Mrs Bryer was upset about what had happened but that the teaching assistant had said “don’t worry nothing happened I didn’t see anything”. Mrs Bryer subsequently adopted the position that the incident had been an accident even though her initial reaction was that is was not; • Mrs Bryer’s statement in which she records a conversation with the teaching assistant on the day after the incident. Mrs Bryer states that she told the teaching assistant that Pupil A “is right” about the events that had happened, namely that Mrs Bryer slapp