A south-east London teacher has been struck down after “sexually motivated” acts, including touching, towards two girls in her care.
Lauren Melvin, 41, was Head of Science at Newstead Wood School in Orpington.
A series of allegations from late 2019 were both admitted by Ms Melvin and found separately to be proven by a professional misconduct panel after two students came forward.
The panel concluded that she should be permanently barred from teaching.
The allegations included student A saying “I’m good at massage” and asking “Do you like me?”.
It was noted that Ms Melvin said student A: “This song is about a lesbian who has never had sex and who is doing it with someone with more experience”.
She also pushed Student A against a wall, fed her a biscuit, and shared alcohol with her. The panel’s report said the teacher told the girl, “‘If you ever tell anyone about the wine, I’ll kill you,’ or similar words, and/or wiped Student A’s lips to remove the wine.”
At about the same time, Ms. Melvin hugged students A and B and made comments about student A’s breasts.
The panel found that Ms Melvin’s behavior was “sexually motivated” and showed that she was “seeking a sexual relationship” and exhibiting “controlling behavior”.
In her defense, Ms Melvin’s representative said the teacher “acted under extreme pressure” because she worked five days a week as a department head and also worked on a separate science learning partnership on a two-day contract.
The representative felt she did not have enough time to complete her work, saying: “Ms. Melvin found increasing solace in spending time with students,” particularly Student A and Student B.
11 references were submitted certifying that Ms Melvin is a “highly respected and popular” colleague, with one adding that she is “trusted and reliable in both babysitting and tutoring”.
However, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, Alan Meyrick of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) issued her a teaching ban effective March 31, 2022.
Ms Melvin has the right to appeal to the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days.
In a statement, Newstead Wood School said that “we fully support the outcome” of the panel.
As soon as the school was made aware of the allegations, it said, “in accordance with our safeguards policy, we have reported them to the appropriate local authority officer (LADO) and the police.”
“The employee has been suspended from work pending the police investigation, which we have fully supported.”
“Once this was completed, we conducted a thorough internal investigation ourselves, which resulted in the appropriate disciplinary procedures and a referral to both the TRA and the Disclosure and Blocking Service.”
The Metropolitan Police have been asked for comment.
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