A special needs coordinator put a primary school pupil at risk of serious harm by allowing her to take her own medication unsupervised and failing to tell her parents.

Matthew Pryer has been banned from teaching after a panel heard that the pupil complained of seeing double, feeling sick and having a fast heart beat - indicating she had taken too much of her antihistamine medication.

A report from the Teaching Regulation Agency, published this week, says her parents warned that her condition could have become life-threatening if she had been administered more medication later the same day.

The incident happened at Brandhall Primary School, in Oldbury in the West Midlands, in February 2018.

The TRA panel found that Mr Pryer’s actions amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

‘Significant’ effect on pupil’s wellbeing

Mr Pryer, 46, had admitted allowing a pupil to take medication unsupervised and failing to notify relevant people within the school or her parents, as required by the child’s care plan.

He also accepted that he put the pupil at risk of serious harm and caused her to suffer the effects of taking too much medication.

The panel accepted this was “most likely a one-off incident” and noted that he had shown significant remorse.

The report says: “Mr Pryer failed to ensure the safe administration of medication to a child in accordance with a care plan of which he had been made aware.

“He left medication administration in the hands of a child and made no mention of the situation to his colleagues or the child’s parents, despite the clear requirement on him to do so.

“This exposed Pupil A to harm that could have become significantly more serious. The effect on Pupil A’s actual and potential wellbeing was significant.”

The TRA panel said that while Mr Pryer may have been under no obligation to administer the medication himself, he has accepted that he should have consulted the pupil’s care plan and ensured that others knew that the medication had been taken, so that a record was kept and her parents were aware of it.

The TRA panel’s recommendation that Mr Pryer be banned from teaching was accepted by the Department for Education.

He can apply for the order to be reviewed in two years.