Headteacher banned from the classroom after using school credit card to pay train fares – UK Times

A headteacher has been banned from the classroom in England after he used the school’s credit cards to pay for his train fares and Amazon and eBay orders.

In July 2023, the chair of governors received a letter from unnamed staff raising serious concerns about Christopher McPhilemy.

In December 2025, it was alleged that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct whilst working as headteacher at Our Lady of Victories Catholic Primary School in Kensington and Chelsea, west London.

It was alleged that he used the school credit card for his own personal use and did not account for all of his expenditure on the school credit card between 1 June 2020 and 12 July 2023.

Annotated receipts provided to the panel from in this time period covered an extensive range of expenditure on the school’s credit card and included purchases from Amazon, eBay, Sainsbury’s/Argos, Oyster/Greater Anglia, and a range of suppliers. The panel noted that the items purchased were wide ranging and included educational materials, IT items, art resources, household items and electronic devices.

Mr McPhilemy had annotated the receipts to distinguish between school purchases and his own, but within the receipts bundle, there were transactions which he described as “mistake purchases”.

There were also many items in which Mr McPhilemy stated he could no longer locate the relevant documentation.

It was also alleged that he did not ensure records were kept of safeguarding concerns, and staff employment documents.

He was also alleged to have failed to ensure all records of pupils were transferred to new schools, and requested that hard copy for pupils be shredded once pupils left between 2016 and 2023.

This March, the panel noted that it found Mr McPhilemy to have “dishonestly and with a lack of integrity had charged personal expenses to his school credit card and made no attempts to reconcile or reimburse any such payment.

“The panel further noted that it had found that Mr McPhilemy had failed to ensure that accessible records were kept with regard to safeguarding concerns or that proper records were kept with staff employment documents and/or records.

“The panel considered that maintenance of up-to-date staff documentation and records including the SCR were also vital components of safeguarding. “

A Financial Review Report recorded that a total of £56,196.84 had been spent on the credit card over the three years and five months .

Of this, £29,317.50 has supporting credit card statements to show the type of spend, however, for the remaining £26,879.34 no evidence of this spend has been provided. That review further concluded that the total spend of £56,196.84 had “no clear audit trail” and that it was “not possible to determine with any clarity what the credit card spend was on”.

While Mr McPhilemy had paid back a total of £9,870.49 he had spent on the credit card during the school’s internal investigation, the panel found “very limited evidence of insight or remorse”.

Mr McPhilemy has been prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

He may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 13 March 2031.