A TEACHER from a private school near the Borders who drunkenly took students to a strip club has been banned from teaching for three years.

Richard Glenn was an IT teacher at Northumberland's Longridge Towers School, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, when the incident occurred during a 2019 trip to Costa Rica.

A Teaching Regulation Agency panel branded the 55-year-old's behaviour "unacceptable" in a decision published on April 8. His other actions on the trip included threatening pupils and acting aggressively towards the female group leader.

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Glenn, who had been head of sixth form, had taught computer science at the school since 2007, with the panel hearing that the 16-18-year-olds on the trip were “relying on him for guidance and protection” as “sole representative of the school” while in Costa Rica.

The trip ran between July 5-28, but Glenn was sent home after six days for his actions, which included:

  • taking pupils to a strip club
  • drinking with students
  • saying to one or more pupils “I’m going to kick your f****** head in”
  • saying to one or more pupils “I’ll f****** kill you”
  • kissing the forehead of a pupil he had been aggressive to and saying “you’re alright”
  • allowing one or more students to drink under the legal age
  • exposing his naked body to the female leader in their shared hotel room, although the panel agreed that no malice or sexual intent was involved

Glenn admitted that it was “inappropriate and unprofessional” to take the pupils to a strip club, but again it was agreed that there was no malice or sexual intent behind his actions.

“The panel also considered that Mr Glenn’s conduct may have led to pupils being exposed to, or influenced by, his behaviour in a harmful way,” reads a report on the panel’s findings.

“Mr Glenn was, at various times during the school trip, under the influence of alcohol, and therefore not in a position to adequately take decisions or act in loco parentis should the need arise.

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“This was in circumstances where pupils under his care were in an unfamiliar country, far from home, and relying on him for guidance and protection.

“Mr Glenn was an experienced teacher and pastoral leader who would have been expected to lead an overseas trip safely, and would have been well aware of the conduct expected of him.”

The private school costs up to £4,850 a term for day pupils.