A Swindon teacher told a vulnerable child that he imagined having sex with them on his desk and engaged in secret sexual conversations.
Married Oliver Shakles was banned from teaching for the rest of his life having admitted the “inappropriate relationship” to a Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel.
He talked to the pupil about sex positions, told them what he would like to do to their body and requested pictures of them “looking pretty” whilst working at St Joseph’s Catholic College.
The 27-year-old maths teacher engaged in frequent one-to-one chats with the youngster in 2019 – some of which were of a sexual nature – before “developing a physical attraction”.
Ahead of the pupil leaving school in 2020, he exchanged a ‘secret’ email address and Instagram account with them – where the chats were “more explicit, more inappropriate”. They talked about being attracted to each other, and discussed fantasies and what they would like to do to each other.
In the statement of agreed facts, Shakles admitted that his behaviour was conduct of a sexual nature and was sexually motivated.
The Teaching Regulation Agency report concluded that his behaviour was “calculated and motivated” and throughout the process, he “expressed no remorse for his actions”.
Alan Meyrick, chief executive of the Teaching Regulation Agency, imposed a teaching prohibition order and removed his right to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.
He said: “This means that Mr Oliver Shakles is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
“Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Oliver Shakles shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.”
In a statement, St Joseph’s Catholic College’s director of finance and operations, Helen Peace said: “We place the safety of our students above all else, which is why we swiftly dealt with this matter as soon as it came to light.
“We worked closely with Swindon Borough Council’s Safeguarding team and Wiltshire Police, in line with our safeguarding policy, throughout the investigations and imposed the strongest possible sanctions against the former member of staff that were available to us.
“We fully support the prohibition order, which was made after we referred the matter to the DBS for consideration by the Teaching Regulation Agency.”
