Teacher banned 'indefinitely' after throwing metal at student found to be working at Sheffield College

In an anonymous email sent to The Star, it was revealed that Ian Leigh was employed by The Sheffield College at a time when the centre was short staffed, working at the Olive Grove campus since the start of the academic year.

However, approximately five weeks ago the 51-year-old was escorted off the premises after it came to light that he had been prohibited from teaching indefinitely after attempting to dishonestly mislead a potential employer about a previous incident in which he threw a piece of metal at a pupil at University Technical College (UTC) Sheffield in December 2015.

Concerns were then raised as to how the former teacher had been employed and whether the necessary checks had been carried out.

The anonymous email read: “I find it very apt that the Sheffield College where I work has had Ian working in the Engineering Department for several weeks until recently.

“He had been teaching 16 to 18-year-olds at various levels over a range of engineering subjects. He was escorted off the colleges' premises when it came to light that the head of department for engineering and our HR department had failed to do DBS checks on him.

“Subsequently Ian has been working with young students again. I and my colleagues are extremely concerned that our line manager failed to do his job by hiring this person without doing the checks we all had to go through.

“More concerning is that Ian has been working with young students again. Parents of our students should be concerned at the way the Sheffield College goes about hiring its staff. Staff who hire such people at the college face disciplinarians, yet this Head of Department has not faced anything and the college are trying to sweep it under the carpet.”

The Sheffield College denies this, insisting that the compulsory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks were carried out before Mr Leigh was employed – checks which would divulge if a person holds a criminal record but would not reveal whether a teaching ban is in place.

This information would only come to light if a teaching prohibition check was carried out, one which is not compulsory for staff in Further Education colleges but usually conducted at The Sheffield College for the staff they employ, but not necessarily those employed through an agency as Mr Leigh was.

Paul Simpson, Executive Director of Human Resources and Organisation Development at The Sheffield College, said: “The safety of our students is our top priority, which is why the college conducts rigorous safeguarding checks on all staff including those recruited through an agency. The college will only ever allow staff to start work after they have completed a thorough vetting process, which includes a DBS check.”

He added: “The college also completes teaching prohibition checks on all teaching and training staff. Having reviewed the process for vetting agency staff, the college now insists on seeing the prohibition checks where they have been conducted by agencies. Where a check reveals that a prohibition from teaching is in place, the college will not recruit that person to a teaching role.”

In light of the situation, The Sheffield College says the teaching prohibition checks will now be carried out for all staff.

Mr Leigh was working as an engineering teacher at UTC Sheffield in 2015 when he admits he raised his voice at a pupil and threw a piece of metal which hit that student's leg.

He was dismissed for misconduct and subsequently applied successfully for a role at Wales High School in Kiveton, near the Rotherham border, but in doing so he failed to disclose his previous role or the reasons for his dismissal to his new employer.

Last year, a disciplinary panel from the National College for Teaching & Leadership found his actions amounted to unacceptable professional conduct which may bring the profession into disrepute.

Panel members felt his actions at UTC Sheffield were not significantly serious to merit a ban, especially given his 'good record' as a teacher prior to the incident, which they accepted was 'out of character'.

But they ruled that his subsequent ‘deliberate’ attempt to dishonestly mislead a potential employer represented a 'clear breach of safeguarding principles' for which a ban was necessary.

He was prohibited from teaching indefinitely, and has to wait a minimum of two years before he can apply for that ban to be lifted.