A science teacher who was seen by pupils accessing “inappropriate adult content” during lesson time on his staff laptop has been banned from teaching for at least 10 years.
Christian Watkinson, who worked at the Christian School in Takeley, Essex, admitted he had used his work laptop along with a smartphone hotspot to circumnavigate the school’s filtering and monitoring system in order to access adult content and engage in adult chat sites while supervising students.
In November 2022, while presenting material to pupils on a big screen, Mr Watkinson clicked on a tab which “contained an image of a woman wearing underwear and a crop top which revealed the bottom part of her breasts,” according to a report by a professional conduct panel convened by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).
This incident was raised by the school as a concern with Mr Watkinson at the time, who acknowledged the tab, which he said was logged into his Instagram account, should not have been open.
However, further concerns mounted in May 2023, when a pupil reported seeing more inappropriate adult content on Mr Watkinson’s laptop. The school then launched an investigation and the case was referred to the TRA.
The panel was told that in all, six pupils had seen inappropriate material on Mr Watkinson’s laptop.
Pupil A stated that “whilst Mr Watkinson was out of the classroom, his computer was open and there was a message on the screen which said: ‘I can’t wait to see you in your sexy brown underwear’.”
Pupil F stated that they had seen something inappropriate on Mr Watkinson’s laptop screen “nearly almost every lesson”. This included “pornographic photos on the laptop, including naked women”.
Pupil F also stated that Mr Watkinson had been on his camera taking photos and had taken his laptop into the chemical cupboard “for about 30 seconds to a minute”, the report said. They said this had happened “almost every lesson since December”.
The panel said it “placed weight on [the statements] on the basis that the pupils’ statements were consistent with one another and with the other evidence […] and Mr Watkinson’s own admissions. Furthermore, the pupil statements appeared to be taken contemporaneously as part of the School’s investigation in May 2023.”
Overall, the panel found Mr Watkinson’s conduct to be “exceptionally reckless”.
Marc Cavey, chief executive of the TRA and acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, said in the report that “allowing a ten-year review period is a sufficient and proportionate period to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession”.
He added: “These elements are: the serious nature of the misconduct found, which included accessing adult content during lesson time and recklessly exposing pupils to that content; the dishonesty and lack of integrity demonstrated by Mr Watkinson in carrying out this behaviour; and the lack of evidence of full insight and remorse and the associated intolerable risk of repetition and future harm to pupils.
“I consider therefore that a ten-year review period is required to satisfy the maintenance of public confidence in the profession. This means that Mr Christian Watkinson is 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 30 August 2035, ten years from the date of this order at the earliest.”
The Christian School, a small fee-paying school, was set up in 1989 but closed down in June 2024 amid financial difficulties.
