A teacher who tried to get an “indecent” photo of a 15-year-old on WhatsApp is one of two whose classroom bans were announced today.
Andrew Chambi, also known as Andreas, was a science teacher at Kingsford Community School in London from 2009 to 2016, apart from a short period working at a university in 2012.
A report from the National College for Teaching and Leadership, published today, says he admitted sending the WhatsApp messages, but denied that his actions were sexually motivated.
It says that he lied about his age, telling the girl he was 24 because he “did not want to admit being 31 years old”, but the panel accepted that he was not aware of the child’s age at this point.
The report says Mr Chambi, now aged 34, suggested the child meet him, and also quotes an exchange of messages where he said “I wanna snuggle up and be warm with someone!!”, the girl responded “We can snuggle haha” and he replied: “That’d be good.”
Mr Chambi also asked what she wore in bed, and when she asked him the same question, replied: “Depends, if it’s hot I may wear pants. But usually nothing. :)”
The panel saw WhatsApp messages in which the girl asked for a photo of the teacher, and he suggested they swap photos. The report says this was before he was aware of her age, and the photos that were swapped were not indecent.
He later asked for a photo of the girl in her nightwear, “although Child A did not ultimately send this photograph despite a further request from Mr Chambi the following day”.
The report says Mr Chambi continued to engage in the conversation after becoming aware of her age, sending messages that “included repeated attempts by Mr Chambi to meet Child A and sexually suggestive messages”.
The panel found there was “no credible, alternative explanation for the messages” apart from a sexual motivation.
It adds: “The panel was particularly concerned that Mr Chambi appeared to be using his role as a teacher to develop a relationship with Child A.
“Child A used revision as a reason not to meet with Mr Chambi. Mr Chambi responded by offering to help Child A with her revision, commenting that he was a teacher and, ‘I could get you a good grade actually! ;)’”
It described his behaviour as “serious”, but said that because it was limited to two days in January 2015, and there was no evidence of similar previous behaviour, his actions were not at the most serious end of the scale.
The panel recommended that Mr Chambi be banned from teaching, but that this could be reviewed after five years.
This was overruled by decision maker Alan Meyrick, who wrote: “The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a finding of sexual activity and a finding of attempting to obtain an indecent photograph from a child.”
He ruled that Mr Chambi be banned from teaching, and not be allowed to apply for the ban to be reviewed.
Simon Dodd, 39, who taught at Francis Holland School in London, has also been banned from teaching, without a review period.
He admitted withholding information about a previous school job from his employment history, giving false information about working at another school, and submitting a falsified degree certificate claiming he received a 2:1 instead of a 2:2.
A NCTL report published today describes him as a “talented and dedicated teacher” of previous good character, who was open and honest about his actions when challenged.
However, it said that because of “multiple instances of serious dishonesty which continued for a period of eight months” and Mr Dodd’s only partial insight into his actions, he be banned from teaching without being allowed to ask for the ban to be reviewed.
