A teacher who tickled a student, stuck his finger in another’s mouth and nose, and made inappropriate sexual jokes was banned from his profession.
Joseph Johnson, 29, also verbally abused the teenage girls in his care and used demeaning nicknames, a panel found.
Mr Johnson was then teaching at Belvedere Academy girls’ school in Liverpool in 2018 and 2019.
The panel ruled that his actions fell short of expected standards.
The Teaching Regulation Agency found that the language and “jokes” used by Mr Johnson were “often sexual in nature and extremely derogatory”.
The panel said Mr Johnson told students a “outrageous” and sexually explicit story and used inappropriate language as he walked past a student in the classroom and tickled her hips.
A number of student reports confirmed that the food technology teacher stuck his finger in a child’s mouth and nose and on another occasion licked his hand and attempted to place it on the students’ faces.
He was also found to have verbally abused children, telling them that if they misbehaved he would take them to “Ceiling Gary” who would “lock you up” or “rape you”. He invented the fictional character to explain footsteps on the floor above the room where he was teaching.
The panel also confirmed allegations that he had named a student, including “cretin.”
However, an allegation that he chased a girl around a classroom with a sachet of tomato sauce, despite knowing she was frightened of the condiment, was unproven, as was an allegation that he whispered the word “whore” behind another girl.
The panel found that there was evidence Mr Johnson was acting as if he were the students’ friend as opposed to their teacher and he had failed to observe appropriate boundaries.
They declared his behavior in teaching “impressive teenage girls” as “completely inappropriate”.
No mitigating evidence was presented by Mr Johnson.
A spokeswoman for the Girls’ Day School Trust, which runs Belvedere Academy, said Mr Johnson worked at the school for 18 months and was immediately reported to authorities and suspended in May 2019.
She said: “Following his suspension and the completion of a full investigation in accordance with internal procedures, [Mr Johnson] was then released.
“The well-being of our students is our highest priority and we take protection extremely seriously and are following the protection protocol set up by local authorities and the Girls’ Day School Trust.”
Mr Johnson has been suspended indefinitely and will not be able to ask for the order to be lifted until 2027.
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