A MARRIED teacher who became infatuated with a pupil has been banned from
teaching indefinitely after sending him love messages and downloading
pictures of him onto her computer.
Mum Yvonne Preston, 49, also asked the boy to dance with her at the end of
year prom and called him into a storeroom to discuss a Twitter comment.
She begged the lad to see her again after he left school and loaded photos of
him onto her work laptop, the National College for Teaching and Leadership
panel heard.
Mrs Preston, a former teacher at Castle Hall Academy in Mirfield, West Yorks.,
sent the boy gifts including a concert ticket, DVDs and a calendar with her
home address on.
She also sent him cards, including one that read: “I have loved having you in
my life; I’ve loved spoiling you.
“The thought of not seeing you, talking to you and just being with you breaks
my heart — so I’m asking don’t go. Don’t leave. Please stay with me!”
She wrote in another: “You light up my world like nobody else.”
Mrs Preston, who worked at the school from December 2011 to May 2013, also
sent inappropriate text messages to another pupil regarding the boy.
She was barred from teaching at schools, colleges and children’s homes
indefinitely.
The panel accepted there was some evidence that Mrs Preston was suffering from
mental health problems at the time and she had shown genuine remorse.
But Alan Meyrick, deputy director of the NCTL which regulates teachers’
conduct, said: “Mrs Preston’s actions constitute conduct that may bring the
profession into disrepute.”
The panel decided that while her behaviour had not amounted to ’serious sexual
misconduct’ there had been an ’abuse of position’.
Mrs Preston resigned in June 2013 after disciplinary proceedings were started
by the school.
Andy Pugh, principal at Castle Hall, said the school had taken decisive action
as soon as matters were brought to its attention.