Ms Kanchana Vanhove

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

Teacher's name: Ms Kanchana Vanhove

Teacher reference number: 0345360

Teacher's date of birth: 5 October 1982

Location teacher worked: Hertfordshire, East England

Date of professional conduct panel: 12 to 14, 17 to 19 July 2023, 19, 20, and 25 to 27 March and 5 April 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 Ms Kanchana Vanhove, formerly employed in Hertfordshire, East 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.

Ms Kanchana Vanhove: Professional conduct panel outcome Panel decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education April 2024 2 Contents Introduction 3 Allegations 4 Preliminary applications 10 Summary of evidence 16 Documents 16 Witnesses 16 Decision and reasons 16 Findings of fact 17 Panel’s recommendation to the Secretary of State 45 Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State 48 3 Professional conduct panel decision and recommendations, and decision on behalf of the Secretary of State Teacher: Ms Kanchana Vanhove Teacher ref number: 0345360 Teacher date of birth: 5 October 1982 TRA reference: 19351 Date of determination: 5 April 2024 Former employer: Wareside Church of England Primary school and nursery, Hertfordshire Introduction A professional conduct panel (“the panel”) of the Teaching Regulation Agency (“the TRA”) convened on 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 19 July 2023, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27 March 2024, and 5 April 2024 remotely via Microsoft Teams to consider the case of Ms Kanchana Vanhove. The panel members were Mrs Shabana Robertson (lay panellist – in the chair), Mrs Christine Cunniffe (teacher panellist) and Mr Duncan Tilley (lay panellist). The legal adviser to the panel was Mr Robin Havard of Blake Morgan LLP solicitors. The presenting officer for the TRA was Mr Tom Orpin-Massey of Counsel. Ms Kanchana Vanhove was present and was represented by Ms Althea Brown of Counsel. The hearing took place in public and was recorded. 4 Allegations (as amended) The panel considered the allegations set out in the notice of hearing dated 27 April 2023 as amended. It was alleged that Ms Kanchana Vanhove was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute in that she: 1. Between around November 2018 and May 2019: a. made unauthorised purchases and / or claims: i. using the School’s Amazon account, as set out in Schedule 1; ii. from the School’s bank account/ School monies, as set out in Schedule 2; b. submitted inappropriate and/or unauthorised expenses claims, as set out in Schedule 3. 2. Her conduct at 1(a)((i) and /or 1(a)(ii) and/ or (1)(b): a. lacked integrity; b. was dishonest in that she knew that the purchases and/or expenses claims were not for the benefit of the School. 3. On or around 7 June 2019, did not provide one or more invoices to external auditors, as set out in Schedules 1 – 3. 4. Her conduct at 3: a. lacked integrity; b. was dishonest in that she did so in an attempt to conceal her conduct at 1. Schedule 1 Item number Date of purchase Details of purchase Amount Invoice marked as removed (allegation 3) 1 7 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “GSL 16x Large Clear Plastic Martini Cocktail Wine Party Glasses” £29.89 No 5 2 7 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “Traditional Garden Games 96cm Croquet Set x2” £44.79 No 3 3 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “100 PCS Gift Kraft Tags” £5.99 Yes 4 7 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “30x High quality one piece plastic champagne flute! glasses - 160 ml” £11.46 No 5 3 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “Ginger Ray gold foiled star paper party cups x8” £9.00 Yes 6 25 November 2018 Amazon invoices for books: Bebes Chouettes, Goldilocks and the three bears (english /french), Eric Carle - French La chenille qui fait des trous, Cher Zoo, Les couleurs d'Elmer, Little Red Riding Hood: Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Dual language book), La Chasse a l'ours £4.80 £8.83 £25.73 £8.99 £5.90 No 7 8 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “Garden Games Jumbo Hi-Tower in a bag - Solid wood tumble tower game” £29.99 No 8 8 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “Outdoor String Lights” £60.00 No 9 7 November 2018 Amazon invoice for “National Geographic - crack open 2 Geodes and explore crystals” £11.99 No 10 21 February 2019 Amazon invoice for books: Wordsearches for clever kids, Brain games for clever kids, the bumper book of very silly jokes £9.04 No 11 21 February 2019 Amazon invoice for books: Activity book for minecrafters, maths games for clever kids, the little inventors handbook £23.78 No 12 10 May 2019 Amazon invoice for “D'addario PW- CT- 17BK Eclipse Tuner (Black)” £9.99 No 13 10 May 2019 Amazon invoice for “Y&S Bike Computer Wireless Waterproof Cycling Computer” £9.99 No 6 14 16 May 2019 Amazon invoice for “Hornby R645 00 Gauge Level Crossing Single Track” £16.78 No 15 16 May 2019 Amazon invoice for “Hornby Gauge Railroad Rothery Industrial 101 Class Locomotive” £25.95 No Schedule 2 Item number Date of purchase Details of purchase Amount Invoice marked as removed (allegation 1 28 November 2018 Invoice for “120 paper airplane place cards in brown kraft paper inc. postage” £33.00 Yes 2 15 January 2019 Invoice for Royal Airforce Museum: Build it aeroplane x2, WWi colouring postcards x2, Catapull Plane x4, Fudge x17, refuel chocolate bars x1, Marmalade x2, Tea x9, Caramel salt biscuits x3 £217.33 Yes Schedule 3 Item number Date of purchase Date of expenses claim Details of expenses claim Amount Invoice marked as removed (allegation 3) 1 18 July 2018 19 December 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt for books, including: Midnight Gang, Sticker Shoot Activity, Storm Keepers Island, Slime book the outdoor making lab, Bday JJ, Take a View, Congratulations, Incredible 2 ffi i l id £71.89 No 2 10 July 2018 19 December 2018 Cheque requisition and invoice for Squarespace subscription £144.00 Yes 3 14 September 2018 1 February 2019 Cheque requisition for Signage for EYFS/ Nursery Promotion and invoice Mother Wild:- A2 Signage and Easel Hire £60.00 Yes 4 17 December 2018 31 January 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt for digital printing at Snappy Snaps £26.94 No 7 5 28 January 2019 1 February 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt for: 2x Astronauts handbook, 2x Minecraft books £21.98 No 6 10 March 2019 3 April 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt for Royal Airforce Museum £161.95 No 7 6 March 2019 3 April 2019 Cheque requisition and invoice for M&S Food £230.00 No 8 17 April 2019 2 May 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt for 26x Shuttleworth Kids Gift Bags, postcards and sweet bags £119.11 No 9 13 April 2019 2 May 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt £50.74 No 10 12 April 2019 2 May 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt payment to Dynamic Earth Enterprises £40.25 No 11 12 April 2019 2 May 2019 Cheque requisition and receipt for Dynamic Earth Enterprises – purchase of books: DK Life Story - Albert Einstein, Little Guides - Charles Darwin, Little Guides - Amelia Earhart, 2 inch Flexicalymene Trilobites, Basket line £30.97 No 12 14 April 2019 2 May 2019 Cheque requisition and invoice for Next: Memo Board £26.00 No 13 16 May 2019 23 May 2019 Cheque Requisition for £130.00 cash £130.00 No Ms Vanhove denied the allegations. Preliminary applications Application for admission of documents On the morning of the first day of the hearing, Ms Brown applied for permission to introduce into evidence a written witness statement of Ms Vanhove and a number of exhibits. Ms Brown apologised for the lateness of the documents. However, Ms Brown indicated that there had been difficulties in accessing the hearing bundle and this had only been possible on 9 June 2023. It was said that the TRA had been warned that the statement would be supplied late. Ms Brown submitted that it was in the interests of fairness that the statement and its appendices should be admitted. 8 Mr Orpin-Massey stated that he had not yet received the appendices but, other than exhibit KV1, understood that they were already in the hearing bundle. However, Mr Orpin-Massey reminded the panel of the relevant paragraphs in the procedural rules relating to admission of documents and also stated that there were matters raised in the statement which had not been mentioned by Ms Vanhove before and therefore there was no time for those additional matters to be properly investigated. However, Mr Orpin-Massey stated that it was a matter for the panel to decide. When asked by the panel for a reason for the delay since this matter was originally listed for hearing some 12 months ago, Ms Brown stated that she could not say what had happened between the TRA and Ms Vanhove's representative during that time. However, it was suggested that the hearing bundle had been revised since the last occasion and access to the up-to-date bundle was only possible on 9 June 2023. The panel considered the application made on behalf of Ms Vanhove for the late submission of documents. The documents comprise of a statement together with various exhibits. It is understood that the exhibits, although unhelpfully numbered differently, may already be included in the hearing bundle. The application is therefore restricted to Ms Vanhove's statement. Ms Brown apologised for the delay and stated that access to the bundle had only been possible on 9 June 2023. Taking account of the history of the matter, the panel was not persuaded that this of itself would have prevented Ms Vanhove from preparing a statement, bearing in mind that the TRA had provided its witness evidence a very considerable time ago. The panel was also concerned that Mr Orpin-Massey had stated that, in the statement, Ms Vanhove is raising new points and making new assertions for the first time which means that, due to its lateness, the TRA will not be able to take instructions on what she has to say. The panel concluded that, whilst the situation was unsatisfactory, it was appropriate and in the interests of fairness, to exercise its discretion and allow the statement to be introduced into