Teacher who 'hugged and stroked' pupil banned

A secondary school teacher has been banned from the profession after having an inappropriate relationship with a pupil.

Andrew Nicolaides hugged, stroked and touched the pupil, between 2012 and 2016, while working at Bluecoat Beechdale Academy in Nottingham - formerly Hadden Park High School - a misconduct panel heard.

He also accepted gifts from the girl, invited her to his house on numerous occasions and ignored a formal written warning he had received in relation to spending excessive time alone with her.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) said Mr Nicolaides' actions were "calculated and motivated" and due to their seriousness, he would not be entitled to a review period.

The outcome of the misconduct panel was published on Friday, following the February hearing.

Mr Nicolaides, now 44, started working at the school in September 2004 and was in his 30s at the time of the allegations.

The school had issued him with a formal written warning in July 2014 for failing to maintain professional boundaries in relation to the pupil.

He ignored the advice he was given and continued to message the pupil on Facebook Messenger and allowed her to come back to his classroom, which had been changed to a more central location in the school so he could be easily observed.

In November 2019, after the pupil had left education, she contacted the school to raise concerns about Mr Nicolaides' previous conduct and he was subsequently suspended.

A police investigation into Mr Nicolaides' misconduct was launched in December 2019 and concluded in 2021 with no further action taken, the TRA said.

Mr Nicolaides' resigned from his post in June 2020.

The pupil told the panel she and Mr Nicolaides - who did not attend the hearing - regularly hugged, often when she stayed late after school.

She said when she would leave to go home, he would say "can I have a hug then?" or "come here".

The panel saw a number of inappropriate messages Mr Nicolaides sent to the pupil via Facebook, including "course ur beautiful", "I would want to hug and kiss you" and "I've seen ur beautiful smile".

In response to a message from the pupil saying she should "probably go [to] bed soon", Mr Nicolaides replied: "Wish I could join you x".

The panel also found between 2010 and 2015, Mr Nicolaides made inappropriate comments to one or more pupils.

His actions were found to be "sexually motivated" and "sexual in nature".

The hearing was told searches of the teacher's electronic devices by Nottinghamshire Police found he had accessed pornographic material with themes relating to teachers and schoolgirls.

The panel said it was "concerned and deeply troubled" with the searches and materials sought out, but noted the websites he used were legal and this happened outside of the education setting.

Therefore, the panel "concluded that they were not provided with evidence that this misconduct affected the way he fulfilled his teaching role or led to pupils being exposed to, or influenced by, the behaviour in a harmful way", in relation to the searches.

However, the panel found Mr Nicolaides "continuously failed to recognise or even acknowledge that his conduct and behaviour was gravely inappropriate", failed to show "insight and remorse" for his actions and said he exhibited a "firmly established pattern of inappropriate and harmful behaviour".

The TRA said: "The panel found that Mr Nicolaides was responsible for both serious sexual misconduct and sexual misconduct involving a child.

"His actions amounted to a clear breach of the Teachers' Standards and raised serious child protection concerns."

Mr Nicolaides has been banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach at any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England.

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