A sixth form college teacher has been banned from teaching for life after a professional conduct panel found he sent messages of a sexual nature to a student and showed “no remorse” for his behaviour.
Andrew Bennington taught at Scarborough Sixth Form College from September 2013 until his resignation in January 2025 after admitting he had contacted a learner on social media, including sending a winking emoji, and later a series of inappropriate messages on social media.
In a prohibition order published earlier this month, the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) ruled Bennington posed a “risk of repetition” and that his behaviour amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and behaviour likely to bring the profession into disrepute.
Around January 2024, Bennington sent a winking emoji to ‘Former Pupil A’ while they were still studying at the college. The TRA did not name the app used, but said it is “known as being a site to facilitate contact of a romantic or sexual nature between adults.”
The learner told investigators the message, sent on a Sunday evening, made them not want to come into college the next day.
After the learner left the college, Bennington continued to contact them online. Towards the end of 2024, the now-former student accepted a friend request from him on Facebook. The panel found Bennington had sent messages including: “you 18 now??”, “I’ve my iPad for general internet porn” and “you’re just around the corner if you ever want to come round during the week”.
The panel ruled that several of the messages and emojis exchanged were sexual in nature. Some were deemed sexual regardless of Bennington’s intent, while others were found to be sexually motivated after he admitted during the college’s investigation that he was “fishing” to see if the former student “was interested”.
During the college’s investigation, Bennington said he was embarrassed about what he had done, acknowledged he should not have sent the messages and admitted to unsending some of them.
However, the panel concluded that while Bennington had accepted responsibility for his actions, he had not demonstrated any understanding of why his conduct was wrong or the impact on the student, and had shown no remorse.
“There was no evidence that Mr Bennington’s actions were not deliberate,” the panel said, adding that his lack of insight and remorse created an ongoing safeguarding risk.
The TRA imposed a prohibition order with no review period, meaning Bennington is barred indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
The decision maker said allowing Bennington to apply for a review would not be sufficient to maintain public confidence in the profession, given the seriousness of the misconduct, the risk of repetition and the “absence of full insight”.
The case comes as legislation laid in Parliament last year extends the remit of the TRA to further education and independent training providers from September 2026.
Phil Rumsey, principal of Scarborough Sixth Form College, said: “The safeguarding team were made aware of possible misconduct by Mr Bennington in January 2025. This was investigated quickly in line with the college’s policies which resulted in a referral to the local authority designated officer (LADO).
“Mr Bennington admitted what he had done and offered his resignation without notice, which was accepted. The matter was subsequently referred to the TRA with the published outcome. The speed at which this was investigated with the correct outcome shows the college policies are strong and fit for purpose, and on review no changes were deemed necessary.
“The student involved left the college the previous summer for reasons completely unrelated to this, which the college later verified as part of the investigation. As a result, there has been no significant negative impact on any staff or students.
“The college had updated its code of conduct for staff in September and all staff received training, which included reference to relationships between staff and students. We were both shocked and saddened by Mr Bennington’s actions and it appeared to be very out of character from the hard-working, dedicated teacher he was, but we are also confident that this was a one-off.”
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