Mrs Kimberley Blackburn

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

Teacher's name: Mrs Kimberley Blackburn

Teacher reference number: 0363735

Teacher's date of birth: 7 May 1982

Location teacher worked: Bedfordshire, East of England

Date of professional conduct panel: 10 March 2020

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 Kimberley Blackburn formerly employed in Bedfordshire, East of England.

The proceedings were held at Cheylesmore House, 5 Quinton Road, Coventry, CV1 2WT at 9.30am on 10 March 2020.

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 Kimberley Blackburn: Professional conduct panel outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education March 2020 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 4 Summary of evidence 5 Documents 5 Statement of Agreed Facts 6 Decision and reasons 6 Findings of fact 6 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 10 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 13 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Mrs Kimberley Blackburn Teacher ref number: 0363735 Teacher date of birth: 07 May 1982 TRA reference: 18352 Date of determination: 10 March 2020 Former employer: Bedford High School, Leigh Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (“the TRA”) convened on 10 March 2020 at Cheylesmore House, 5 Quinton Road, Coventry, CV1 2WT, to consider the case of Mrs Kimberley Blackburn. The panel members were Mr John Matharu (lay panellist – in the chair), Mrs Ann Walker (former teacher panellist) and Mr Alex Osiatynski (teacher panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mrs Luisa Gibbons 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 Mrs Blackburn that the allegations be considered without a hearing. Mrs Blackburn 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 (Mr Andrew Cullen) or Mrs Blackburn. The meeting took place in private, save for the announcement of the panel’s decision, which was announced in public and recorded. 4 Allegations The panel considered the allegations set out in the notice of meeting dated 25 February 2020. It was alleged that Mrs Blackburn was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in that: Whilst employed as the English Teaching and Learning Manager at the Bedford High School from September 2012 to March 2019, she 1. failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with Pupil A, on one or more occasions between 2018 – 2019, by: a. sending and/ or exchanging emails with Pupil A, including emails which: i. were sent during the evening/night and/or during the school holidays and/or at weekends; ii. related to Pupil A’s [redacted]; iii. contained words such as “sweetie” and/or “love”; iv. contained an ‘x’, indicating a kiss/kisses; v. referred to her own personal family issues; b. sending and/or exchanging emails with Pupil A which undermined and/or had the potential to undermine the Designated Safeguarding Lead; 2. failed to notify and/or failed to notify at the earliest opportunity to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and/or report and/or report at the earliest opportunity on CPOMIS that: a. [redacted]; b. Pupil A had made one or more comments to her within emails sent between December 2018 and January 2019 [redacted]; i. on 17 th December 2019, Pupil A stated [redacted]; ii. on 18th December 2018, Pupil A stated [redacted]; iii. on 18th December 2018, Pupil A stated [redacted]; iv. on 19th December 2018, Pupil A stated [redacted]; v. on 20th December, Pupil A stated [redacted]; vi. on 21st December 2018, Pupil A stated [redacted]; vii. on 27th December 2018, Pupil A stated [redacted]; viii. on 12th January 2019, Pupil A stated [redacted]. 5 3. Her actions as may be found at allegations 1 and/or 2b above constituted a failure to follow requests/instructions given by the Designated Safeguarding Lead, in particular, the following requests/ instructions: a. on 23 rd November 2018 when she was informed by email of the procedure for reporting a safeguarding concern; b. on 13th December 2018, when she was instructed by email to log all concerns regarding Pupil A on CPOMS; c. on 13th December 2018, when she was instructed by email to direct Pupil A to the Designated Safeguarding Lead if Pupil A approached her with any issue other than her English work; d. on 11 th January 2019, when she was instructed by email to report all safeguarding concerns on CPOMS and/ or to notify the Designated Safeguarding lead immediately; e. on 14th January 2019, when she was instructed by email to avoid emailing Pupil A; f. between November 2018 and January 2018, when she was given verbal instructions on one or more occasions to report any concerns she had about Pupil A to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Mrs Blackburn has admitted each of the allegations and has admitted that her conduct amounts to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Summary of evidence Documents In advance of the meeting, the panel received a bundle of documents which included: Section 1: Chronology and anonymised pupil list – pages 1 to 3 Section 2: Notice of referral, response and notice of meeting– pages 4 – 11b Section 3: Statement of Agreed Facts and presenting officer’s representations – pages 12 to 22 Section 4: Teaching Regulation Agency documents – pages 23 to 351 Section 5: Teacher documents – pages 353 to 356. In addition, the panel agreed to accept the following: a revised Notice of meeting dated 25 February 2020 – pages 11c to 11f 6 The panel members confirmed that they had read all of the documents within the bundle, in advance of the meeting and the additional document admitted by the panel. Statement of Agreed Facts The panel considered a Statement of Agreed Facts which was signed by Mrs Blackburn on 17 January 2020. 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 Blackburn 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. The panel noted there were two minor inconsistencies between the evidence and the allegations in respect of allegations 2b(vii) and 3c, but considered this to be a clear typographical error and that it would not be in the public interest, nor the interest of the teacher for this case to be adjourned for a hearing to be convened. Mrs Blackburn was employed as an English Teaching and Learning Manager at Bedford High School (“the School”) on 1 September 2012. On 14 January 2019, the Designated Safeguarding lead raised concerns regarding the volume and nature of email communication between Pupil A and Mrs Blackburn. On 25 January 2019, Mrs Blackburn was suspended from her position. On 22 March 2019, Mrs Blackburn ceased working at the School following her resignation. On 3 May 2019, Mrs Blackburn was referred by her employer to the TRA. Findings of fact The findings of fact are as follows: The panel found the following particulars of the allegations against Mrs Blackburn proved, for these reasons: Whilst employed as the English Teaching and Learning Manager at the Bedford High School from September 2012 to March 2019, she 1. failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with Pupil A, on one or more occasions between 2019 – 2019, by: a. sending and/ or exchanging emails with Pupil A, including emails which: 7 i. were sent during the evening/night and/or during the school holidays and/or at weekends; ii. related to Pupil A’s [redacted]; iii. contained words such as “sweetie” and/or “love”; iv. contained an ‘x’, indicating a kiss/kisses; v. referred to her own personal family issues; Mrs Blackburn has admitted in the Statement of Agreed Facts that she was employed as an English Teacher and Learning Manager at the School from 1 September 2012 to 22 March 2019. Mrs Blackburn has accepted the allegations set out above at paragraphs 1a(i) to (v). The panel has seen various examples of emails which were sent by Mrs Blackburn to Pupil A during the evening (after school hours), during the Christmas school holidays and at weekends. The panel has seen emails dated 12 January 2019 from Mrs Blackburn addressed to Pupil A, referring to her as “Sweetie”, as “love” and signed off with an “x” which the panel took to indicate a kiss. The panel has also seen an email of 12 January 2019 in which Mrs Blackburn has referred to personal matters relating to the health condition of someone close to her. Throughout the exchanges of emails with Pupil A there is a thread relating to Pupil A’s [redacted], starting with an email from Pupil A on 23 November 2018 as to [redacted] and continuing through to 25 January 2019. Having reviewed the exchanges of emails, the panel has found the entirety of allegation 1a(i) to (v) proven. b. sending and/or exchanging emails with Pupil A which undermined and/or had the potential to undermine the Designated Safeguarding Lead; Mrs Blackburn has admitted this allegation in the Statement of Agreed Facts. The panel has seen emails dated 18 December 2018 and 12 January 2019 which the panel considered undermined or had the potential to undermine the Designated Safeguarding Lead. The panel therefore found allegation 1b proven. 2. failed to notify and/or failed to notify at the earliest opportunity to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and/or report and/or report at the earliest opportunity on CPOMS that: a. [redacted]; Mrs Blackburn has admitted signing out of school at approximately 15:02 on 9 November. She has admitted that the Designated Safeguarding Lead emailed her at 15:42 querying whether Pupil A had shown