Drunk teacher struck off after 'mini rave' lesson, calling pupils 'little s***s' and forcing Macarena
A disgraced teacher downed alcohol from a water bottle, called her pupils "little s***s" and asked them to dance the Macarena during a "mini rave" lesson.
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Alice Ashton shocked students at Ysgol Bro Caereinion school in Welshpool, Powys, when she started blaring loud music during a PSE lesson in January last year.
She then started to dance and shout in front of the teenagers, who raised concerns to the school's bosses after smelling alcohol from her Evian bottle.
A fitness-to-practise hearing heard the shameful lesson took place just four months after the teacher was convicted of drink-driving.
She has now been struck off the teaching register indefinitely but may reapply in two years.
Ashton had often taught "boring" PSE lessons about alcohol and drug awareness, one 16-year-old pupil told the hearing.
But before the start of this infamous lesson, the teen - named only as Pupil H - saw the teacher drinking from an Evian water bottle filled with an orange liquid that had an "alcoholic smell".
Pupil H said the bottle was full at the start of the class but almost empty by the end.
"She was very, very close to us," she added. "There was a slight alcoholic smell. She was very, very lively and quite animated and speaking with her hands. In other lessons she was more reserved and quiet.
"Alice Ashton had an Evian bottle with orange juice. I noticed she was regularly taking swigs from the bottle.
"I recall Alice Ashton asked the class to make the Macarena. She played music and we were not doing work."
Ashton "kept jumping up from her desk" but became "irritated" as the lesson went on, the student said.
She repeatedly swore and called the whole class "little s***s".
Pupil H said: "She began to swear at him. She put her middle finger two to three inches from his face and continued to swear at him."
Another student said Ashton forced the class to do the Macarena, adding: "She got some students dancing to the laptop and speakers and it spiralled out of control."
In an internal school review, Ashton said she did not sing to the pupils or swear.
But CCTV footage unravelled her lies, the Education Workforce Council panel said.
Presenting officer Lewis Harrison said: "It is totally untenable to suggest the music is being played as background music.
"The evidence is very clear that Miss Ashton did not remain at the front of the class. She invited pupils to dance."
Ashton did not responded to the findings and had shown no remorse or apology, the disciplinary panel said.
She had emailed the EWC only to say she now lived in England and no longer worked as a teacher.
The panel found she appeared under the influence and/or smelt of alcohol whilst at work.