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Teacher banned over sexual with ex-pupils

Paul Johnson
BBC News
LDRS A red-brick, three-storey school building with black windows behind black gates. A grey road runs through the open gates. A sign reads: "Harbour Learning Trust, Healing Academy."LDRS
Healing Academy, in Grimsby, is "committed" to the safety and wellbeing of students, its parent trust says

A teacher has been banned from the profession for life after a ruled on the "balance of probabilities" that he had sex with one former pupil and sent inappropriate messages to another.

Cheyne Phillips, 34, was a PE teacher at Healing Academy, a secondary school near Grimsby, at the time.

A professional conduct of the Teaching Regulation Agency was told he denied the allegations and "a large amount of the factual assertions surrounding them".

However, during a public hearing held between 6 and 9 May, the found Mr Phillips had exploited his position of trust by pursuing "highly inappropriate relationships and sexual misconduct with children".

Mr Phillips had "spoken to and repeatedly and persistently corresponded via e-mail, Instagram and Snapchat" with the former pupils "in ways that were sexual and inappropriate", the found.

In one of the cases, this "ultimately led" to "repeated and serious sexual misconduct".

Mr Phillips, who did not attend the hearing, worked at the academy from July 2016 to July 2022.

In a statement, the trust that runs the school said the allegations were "dealt with swiftly" and it had "complied fully" with an investigation.

The heard allegations that Mr Phillips had developed inappropriate relationships with two former pupils, known as A and B, after they left the school.

Both said his behaviour towards them had changed as they entered the final months of their time there.

'Ur a secret'

Pupil A said Mr Phillips had followed her on Instagram after she left and started messaging her.

The found that, on the balance of probabilities, he had made a number of comments of a sexual or inappropriate nature, sent at least one photograph of himself and requested images of her.

He had also attempted to meet her and, in one message, told her "ur a secret".

Pupil B said Mr Phillips had winked at her in revision sessions towards the end of her time at school, before emailing "something flirty" after she had left.

They then exchanged messages on Instagram and Snapchat and he asked to meet her.

The stated that it was satisfied from the evidence that he had received at least one explicit photograph from her and asked, "am I going to make the first move, or are you":[]}