Greater Manchester teacher who discussed lesbian sex & dildos is banned from classroom

Kathryn Matthews, who had worked as an English teacher at The Westleigh School in Wigan, has been prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. She may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until October 1, 2027.

Her action has been described as falling “significantly short of the standards expected of the profession” by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) who ruled on her misconduct.

What happened?

On November 28, 2023, Ms Matthews was teaching an English class when she engaged in conversations with her pupils that were inappropriate and/ or of a sexual nature. The TRA heard from child witnesses who described a 25-minute conversation in the classroom that included Ms Matthews telling a story about a boy and a sex toy, orgasms and the workings of gay sex.

The following day, details were reported by two students to a pastoral member of staff of inappropriate conversations with Ms Matthews and their statements were taken. The day after this, Ms Matthews was suspended, and after an investigation concluded, she was dismissed with effect from February 16, 2024. The matter was referred to the TRA on March 1, 2024.

Ms Matthews had asserted that the pupils had colluded against her. She explained to the TRA that the students “always stick together and were ‘horrific’ when she first started”. She claimed she shut down a “have you ever” question of a sexual nature, denied that she had told a story involving a young person and a sex toy and insisted “that the lesson was on “A Christmas Carol” and nothing else”. The report added: “Ms Matthews explained that students are on their phones constantly but this story had not “come out of her mouth”. Ms Matthews denied that references were made to how boys achieve orgasm during the lesson and denied that she had discussed the topic of gay sex during the lesson.”

The panel said they carefully balanced up all the evidence and noted that extensive evidence had been gathered by the school. A report says: “The panel noted that the evidence was that Ms Matthews was liked by the students and that they enjoyed her classes and that the students had not sought to raise these matters as a complaint but had rather raised them as akin to a joke whilst walking down a corridor with a junior member of staff. The panel noted that the evidence of the six students (pupils A, B, C, D, F and G) was basically consistent with the evidence of each other as well as being consistent with the later evidence of the balance of the students.”

The panel found the allegations against Ms Matthews proved.

“Extremely serious”

The panel considered her actions to be “extremely serious and, on any analysis, entirely inappropriate”. The report adds: “The panel found that the manner and tone of these conversations between a teacher and pupils would have been seriously inappropriate in any lesson, including one focused on sex education. For these reasons, the panel was satisfied that the conduct of Ms Matthews amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession. Accordingly, the panel was satisfied that Ms Matthews was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.”