Ban for teacher who criticised colleague to parent
A teacher has been struck off after a committee found she suggested to a parent that her colleagues were targeting their child.
Erin Dempsey taught history to a pupil at Furze Platt Senior School in Maidenhead, Berkshire, when it was discovered she had also contacted the pupil inappropriately on WhatsApp using her personal mobile phone.
She was also found to have altered their registry and detention records.
A spokesperson for the school said it placed “great importance on the health, wellbeing and protection of our entire community, particularly our children”.
A Teaching Regulatory Agency (TRA) panel removed her registration for two years, after which she will have to apply for reinstatement if she wants to teach again.
Dempsey, 27, told the parent in an email that their child was “not the only one having issues” with a co-worker, which the panel called “inappropriate and unprofessional.”
The panel found that Dempsey’s contact with the child on WhatsApp and email was “extensive” and “inappropriate”, in that it rarely related to what Dempsey was teaching them.
He said Dempsey appeared to have been “motivated by a desire” to help the student, but her behavior was a fundamental violation of standards.
Dempsey worked at the school from September 2023 until April 2024, when she resigned. It was suspended in March 2024.
She qualified as a teacher in Canada but was not a qualified teacher in England, the TRA said.
The school spokesperson added: “We note that the judgment recognized the training and protective measures implemented by Furze Platt Secondary School.
“It was our school community who raised these concerns and it was our own swift action, including investigation and liaison with external agencies, which led to the referral to the TRA.
“We continue to ensure our staff meet the highest possible standards of safeguarding. Our priority remains supporting and educating our students to become fantastic and successful young adults.”
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