A teacher has been struck off after she allegedly engaged in an inappropriate and sexual conversation about orgasms and sex toys with pupils at a high school in Wigan.
At a regulatory panel, it was heard Ms Kathryn Matthews, who had been working at The Westleigh School for two months, was suspended following the incident, which came to light following a conversation between pupils and was later investigated.
It was alleged that the English teacher was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct following a conversation of an inappropriate or sexual nature in a class in November 2023.
She has now been struck off and banned from teaching after a Teaching Regulation Authority panel concluded she had conversations with the pupils about the topics, constituting misconduct 'of a serious nature'.
The panel hearing, in which Ms Matthews 'did not engage' but was presumed to have denied the claims, was told how a member of staff at the school had been walking with two pupils when the initial conversation was brought up.
One of the pupils is claimed to have said that Ms Matthews had told the class 'about someone who stuck a dildo with a suction cup on the end of it on to the back of his bedroom door' and that the 'lad' had 'backed up on to it' before his 'grandmother entered the room' resulting in him 'bleeding everywhere'.
The school employee also told the panel the pupils had told her they had similar conversations with Ms Matthews 'regularly' and she was viewed by some as 'more like a friend than a teacher'.
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The incident was reported to the witnesses' line manager and prompted an investigation, involving speaking with students from the class.
It was alleged in a witness statement by one student that a pupil had also 'asked miss something about orgasms and how many girls can have'. It was claimed she answered: "Girls can have eight orgasms but boys only have one which is up their bum."
A student was also claimed to have asked Ms Matthews 'why people use vibrators', to which she is alleged to have replied: "When girls use vibrators it feels nice" before confirming it was the clitoris.
The panel also noted that Ms Matthews had asserted the pupils had colluded against her, however found she was 'well liked by her class' and that staff thought it was 'unlikely that any pupils would have colluded to seek to concoct the matters which form the heart of the allegation'.
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In an email from Ms Matthews to a manager at the school, the panel hearing was told that she 'shut down the comment and asked the class to focus' during the lesson, which was about A Christmas Carol.
The report continued: "Ms Matthews also described receiving a 'have you ever' question which she refused to answer. Ms Matthews stated that she did not know whether there was any other inappropriate conversation as the class were 'very chatting and disruptive on this particular day'.
"Ms Matthews denied that students had asked her about orgasms", the document said. It added Ms Matthews claimed she had 'not engaged' with a comment a pupil had made in another lesson about the male g-spot and denied telling a story about a sex toy, suggesting that 'maybe the pupils had seen it on TikTok'.
Ms Matthews also denied references were made to how boys achieve orgasm during the lesson, the panel heard.
The document stated: "Ms Matthews explained that the students always stick together and were 'horrific' when she first started but were now slightly nicer and she thought that she was making headway.
"Ms Matthews explained that she did not know how to manage the behaviour of some students and disclosed that she would not even feel comfortable having such conversations with her own children."
But following the investigation, the panel found that Ms Matthews had engaged in conversations with pupils 'discussing subjects including anal sex, gay sex, a story about a boy who was injured when using a sex toy, the use of dildos and female and male orgasms and g spots and masturbation in an English lesson'.
It added that the Teaching Regulation Authority had proved the allegation to the standard of the balance of probabilities, that the conduct of Ms Matthews amounted to misconduct 'of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession' and that she was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
Ms Matthews, who was dismissed with effect in February 2024, is now prohibited from teaching and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England.
She may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not for two years, which will be subject to scrutiny from a panel.