A science teacher who arrived at school 'smelling of alcohol' has been banned from teaching indefinitely. John Stanway drank heavily the night before reporting for work at Hazelwick School in Crawley, a professional conduct panel heard.
The panel found that Mr Stanway exhibited signs of being under the influence of alcohol during a lesson on 3 November 2017. He played pop music from a laptop without explanation, and pupils were selecting tracks while the class became noisy and unstructured. A support teacher described the scene as 'more like break-time than a lesson'.
Mr Stanway also left the classroom to make a cup of coffee, an act the panel deemed 'unusual'. In an email to the school, he claimed he had felt sober when leaving home but 'felt the effects coming back on' as the morning progressed. He admitted oversleeping and arriving without washing or brushing his teeth, attributing the alcohol smell to spilling drinks on himself and his bed the night before.
The Teaching Regulation Agency concluded that Mr Stanway's conduct 'fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession' and imposed an indefinite classroom ban. The Secretary of State for Education granted him permission to apply for a review after two years, though Mr Stanway did not attend the hearing.
Hazelwick School stated that upon becoming aware of concerns, they immediately removed the teacher from the classroom. They emphasised that 'at no point were students at any risk of harm, nor were they left unattended at any time'.
