Assistant headteacher handed life ban for filming up the skirts of pupils

The 60-year-old teacher will not be allowed to seek a review of the decision to ban him from teaching
27th November 2017, 6:35pm

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Assistant headteacher handed life ban for filming up the skirts of pupils

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A voyeuristic teacher who filmed up the skirt of at least one pupil at the girls’ school where he worked has been banned from teaching for life.

Assistant headteacher Andrew Corish, 60, was working at the Coloma Convent Girls’ School in Croydon when he used his mobile phone to film up the skirt of one or more pupils in a “sexually motivated” act. He had kept “one or more inappropriate images taken up the skirts of pupils, including videos”.

Mr Corish admitted the allegations, according to a report published today by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL).

A professional conduct panel found him guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct,” over his actions, which took place on 11 June 2015 while he was supervising examinations at the school.

Mr Corish used his mobile phone to record indecent images of a pupil and attempted to record further indecent images of pupils on more than one occasion in actions which “were sexually motivated”.

Mr Corish admitted to the allegations, described by the panel as “sexually motivated actions within the school setting”.

The senior teacher had a “previously good history” and the panel noted that he “fully cooperated” with investigations by the school and police.

Banned from teaching

The report stated that Mr Corish had “demonstrated remorse for his actions and made no excuses for his behaviour”.

However, the NCTL panel concluded that “the findings indicated behaviour which it could not condone and for which a review period would not be appropriate”.

The decision maker Dawn Dandy, who acts on behalf of education secretary Justine Greening, backed the panel’s recommendation and said: “The panel has observed, in light of its findings which involved sexually motivated actions within the school setting that, ‘there is a strong public interest consideration in respect of the protection of pupils’.”

He was banned from teaching indefinitely and will not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.

Mr Corish was suspended by the school after the allegations emerged in 2015 and subsequently resigned from his position. He was arrested and charged with voyeurism - and pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates’ Court in April last year.

But he escaped prosecution when a judge at Croydon Crown Court ruled that none of Mr Corish’s alleged victims were involved in doing a “private act” as outlined in the legal definition of voyeurism.

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