A senior teacher at an £18,000-a-year private school has been struck off for calling a female student his 'Premier League' amid a string of 'uncomfortable' comments. Stuart Smith, 48, described the female pupil, known only as Pupil A, as his 'Mona Lisa friend' and his 'little kid hugger'.
Background of the Case
The PE teacher, who had worked as a sports coach for over 25 years, sent the pupil a string of messages after returning from a school trip with her. She became upset when travelling home and the 'highly inappropriate and unprofessional' teacher invited her to put her legs over him and he began rubbing them. He also kept a stash of photos of her following the trip and bought her a bracelet as a present.
After being arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, he has now been struck off from working as a teacher. Mr Smith was employed as a PE teacher at the £17,910-a-year Mayville High School in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in April 2020. He had coached and worked in sport for 27 years prior to his sacking.
Roles and Relationships
Mr Smith was made head of house in January 2021 and head of year 11 in November 2021, as well as a career co-ordinator in January 2023. He taught Pupil A from Year 8 to Year 11 and during this period he went on a school trip with her and 'became increasingly close' to her.
Following the incident, he sent several WhatsApp messages to her and after she told another pupil he was arrested in October 2023 on suspicion of sexual assault. Among the messages he said: 'I don't like it when things end and this feels worse than normal. I have really missed not seeing you today as I've got very used to seeing you all the time.'
'Probably wasn't a great idea to work today, but I'm home now and in desperate need of a shower.' He also said that he was having 'proper Debbie Downers' about being home and sent her a Spotify playlist which he made to 'cheer me up'.
He admitted that he had 'loads [of photos] of you on my phone and there are no bad ones, you look great in all of them'. The messages continued by him saying: 'So, today I've seen a lot of my favourite people and done some fun things BUT I would have swapped it all for a cup of milo, a game of spoons and just being silly with you [emoji with tears in eyes] x'
He also described her as 'the best non-water drinker/hoody stealer/wrong name caller/bracelet addict/after bite user/banana pancake eater/Talk Tonight lover/Little kid hugger/excess snorer/Extreme food server/Mona Lisa friend/Blanket thief/Photo lover that I know.' He concluded by saying that she was 'Premier League' and 'one of my favourite people on the planet'.
Physical Contact on Flight
On the flight home, when Pupil A was upset, Mr Smith came to sit next to her and told her that she could put her legs across him - which she did. He then placed his left hand by her knee and his right hand on her right thigh and 'rubbed them a bit'. Pupil A said she 'felt shocked' by the incident which she claimed lasted for around two hours - although he said it was 15 to 20 minutes.
At the time she was worried about his mental state and said that 'her biggest worry was that Mr Smith would kill himself if she stopped messaging him and that she had extreme anxiety about this'. Following the trip he bought her a fabric bracelet as a memento of the trip.
Outcome of Investigation
The police investigation ended with no further action, but he resigned in December 2023 and a disciplinary meeting within the school later found that he would have been sacked had he not resigned. The case was later taken before a Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) panel hearing who have struck him off the register.
Mr Smith said the situation was 'slowly destroying' him and that he felt that his 'whole world had collapsed'. Christine McLintock, Chair of the TRA Panel, said: 'Mr Smith acknowledged.... that he realised that his messages at times were too friendly and over familiar, but he thought it was due to spending 16/17 hours a day with someone.'
'In his written statement dated 12 April 2026 he stated that he had "gone through all of these messages" and agreed that they were unprofessional and 'blurred the lines between what is acceptable and not.' The panel found that these WhatsApp messages were over-familiar, personal, continued after the School Trip and included language of emotional dependence of Mr Smith towards Pupil A.'
'The panel was highly concerned by the negative impact on Pupil A causing her anxiety and distress. Pupil A in her oral evidence stated that she felt she had to message Mr Smith back through fear of his mental health. The panel found that this was a failure to safeguard Pupil A's wellbeing.'
'The panel considered Mr Smith's behaviour to be highly inappropriate and unprofessional. Pupil A in her written and oral evidence stated that she felt very uncomfortable, shocked and now finds it 'very hard to trust people'.'
'The panel also found that the physical contact with Pupil A on the return flight, including covering her legs with a blanket and rubbing or touching her thigh, would be considered by the public to be a serious failure to maintain appropriate professional boundaries in a safeguarding context.'
'The panel noted that the matters which it had found proven were very serious and demonstrated, even taken at their very best, an intense naivety and lack of care on Mr Smith's part as to the consequences of his behaviour towards a child under his care.'
'The panel considered that it was clear that Mr Smith had repeatedly prioritised his own needs over that of the pupil including at a time when the pupil had little contact with her parents and when her teachers had sole responsibility for her care.'
David Oatley, the Secretary of State decision maker, concluded: 'In my judgement, the lack of insight means there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour and this puts at risk the future wellbeing of pupils.'
