A RETIRED headteacher has admitted a charge of unacceptable professional conduct after an overnight camping trip for 18 primary school pupils went ahead with no teacher present.

Barbara Legge, who was until August 2018 the headteacher of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Newtown, admitted that a risk assessment was not completed for the Year Six trip to Talybont in July 2017, and it was not approved by Powys County Council.

The Education Workforce Council hearing on September 22, heard that Mrs Legge allowed the group of children to travel by train from Newtown to Talybont with a volunteer who was not an employed staff member.

She also admitted that she allowed the same volunteer to continue to work at the school when concerns were raised about his behaviour towards children including tickling pupils and giving them piggybacks.

Committee chair Steve Powell said there was no suggestion that the volunteer’s behaviour had any serious connotation rather that he “displayed a lack of appropriate boundaries”.

The volunteer also taught on a regular basis in the lead up to pupils’ exams when a member of staff was on sick leave. When the teacher returned, she was “appalled” by the lack of evidence of the children’s work in their books.

The committee recognised that Mrs Legge, who was not present at the hearing, had not been the subject of any previous disciplinary proceedings, and that she accepted that her conduct fell short of what was expected.

“I have previously an unblemished record of 39 years as a teacher and 30 of them as a headteacher”, she said in a statement read by the committee chair Steve Powell. “I have no intention of teaching or volunteering again with the school. I have retired.”

Summing up, Mr Powell said: “Mrs Legge has found an inability and unwillingness or refusal to resolve matters when concerns were raised with her.

“There was a pattern of misconduct over a period of time for which Mrs Legge has shown no regret or remorse and into which she has shown no insight. Overall, Mrs Legge’s actions were fundamentally incompatible with continuing to be a registered person.”

Mrs Legge’s name will be removed from the register of teachers and she will not be able to teach in Wales.

A spokesperson for Powys County Council said: “Safeguarding concerns were raised with St Mary’s Catholic Primary School Governing Body while Mrs Barbara Legge was headteacher. The governing body sought advice from the county council and an independent investigation was carried out in accordance with the policies and procedures of both the school and the council.

“Following an internal process and because of the seriousness of the concerns, the council referred the case to the Education Workforce Council. Mrs Legge is no longer employed at the school.”