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Education & Family

‘Overfamiliar’ Slough sports coach banned from schools

A sports coach who hugged elementary school students and allowed a girl to put bobbles in her hair was banned from teaching.

Andrew Watson, 29, has been warned to respect appropriate professional boundaries three times in seven months by managers at the Marish Academy Trust in Slough, Berkshire, a panel has heard.

It concluded that his “inability to change” caused him “significant discomfort”.

Mr Watson cannot re-apply for his registration to be reinstated.

The Academy Trust has been contacted for comment.

Mr Watson began working for the Trust in February 2019 as a coach and unskilled teacher at the Trust’s primary schools in Marish and Willow.

Concerns were raised a month later when staff said he “let students into his personal space and invade theirs” and that girls were “comfortable” touching him.

A formal meeting was held over his “over-familiarity” but further concerns were raised in May 2019. He received further advice in June and training in August of that year.

A witness said they saw Mr Watson allowing and encouraging a girl to put hair ties in her hair around June.

In October 2019, another witness said they saw schoolchildren hugging Mr Watson in a playground and he allowed them to look at his mobile phone.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) said some of Mr Watson’s evidence was “unreliable and contradictory”.

He claimed he took out his cell phone because a child was having an epileptic seizure and he called an ambulance.

But the TRA said there was “no evidence” that that happened.

Another staff member said they also went to an office in October 2019 to find Mr Watson alone in the room with girls.

The panel said Mr Watson had shown a “blatant disregard” of the trust’s “processes, procedures and policies”.

A formal investigation into his behavior began in November 2019. He resigned a month later.

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