Deputy headteacher banned after kissing student and performing classroom sex act in front of junior colleague

8 May 2025, 08:11 | Updated: 8 May 2025, 08:15

A former deputy head teacher has been banned from the classroom after performing a lewd sexual act in front of a junior colleague and kissing a student in his classroom.

Simon Graves, 52, was worked at Carlton le Willows Academy between 2009 and 2014, during which time he set up the girls’ football team.

Mr Graves faced a number of allegations from three students and a colleague during a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Mr Graves was found to have behaved in an inappropriate manner to a junior colleague, who he locked in a classroom and performed a sex act in front of.

The colleague reported that Mr Graves, who was her senior, put his hands on her back and was very flirtatious while at a staff drinks. The woman told the panel that she felt awkward and shocked, that she didn’t know how to respond and tried to laugh it off.

The next morning she was anxious about being so drunk at the staff event, so she went to Mr Graves’ office to apologise, when he locked the door, pressed his body against hers, lifted her chin and put his tongue in her mouth and moved it around.

Mr Graves, in his evidence, did not recall seeing her the next day and was adamant that he did not push her against his office door or anywhere else or try to kiss her.

The panel was told that Mr Graves told her to send him "sexy" text messages throughout the day.

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She claimed the text messages started immediately and were “flirty” but were not “explicit”. At the end of the day, Mr Graves asked her to come to his office in a message that said “don’t dare go home”.

She reported that she felt that she had no choice but to go to his office. When she entered his office, Mr Graves locked the door and told her to sit down.

He undid his trousers and started masturbating. As he did this, he pulled down her head and ejaculated onto her hair.

Mr Graves was adamant that he did not masturbate in front of his colleague.

The woman also reported facing a "suffocating" amount of attention from Mr Graves, who would come into her class throughout the day on a spurious pretext, try to kiss her in empty corridors, wait outside her house and car.

She explained how she would sometime abandon her car at school and take the bus home to avoid him.

Mr Graves was also found to have behaved inappropriately with a student when he kissed a year-11 pupil in his office.

In evidence, the student said: "I didn’t stop him, I wish I did, I would now.”

Mr Graves visited the same student at her home on two occasions, one while her parents were not home. The student stated that Mr Graves kissed her again, like he had in his office, and he placed his hands on her back under her jumper.

He also sent the student "explicit" texts, in which he asked her to go to his house and said he would have sex with her on his office desk.

Mr Graves denied the allegations

Following allegations of sexual assault, on December 22 2018, Mr Graves was arrested. Mr Graves attended a voluntary interview with the police on July 29 2019.

A criminal case was brought against Mr Graves. On July 15 2021, Mr Graves was found “Not Guilty” at Nottingham Crown Court.

The teacher panel heard that Mr Graves set up the school’s girls football team and would drive pupils back home after matches and training.

On one occasion he touched a students leg while dropping her home. The student said that she idolised Mr Graves and she “loved him so much” for what he did for them, saying he was "amazing".

She said he put his hand on her leg as a comforting gesture, but added his hand would go on her thigh, he may rub it.

She said that in the later years in school, she stopped accepting rides from Mr Graves partly due to rumours about Mr Graves and increasingly feeling uncomfortable as she got older.

On another occasion Mr Graves touched another students leg while she was upset in his office. He told the student she was "upset because she was hormonal and that her body was going through puberty".

The panel concluded that Mr Simon Graves is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

The panel’s decision maker David Oatley said: "The panel has found some of the allegations proven and found that those proven facts amount to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

"In this case, the panel has found some of the allegations not proven and I have therefore put those matters entirely from my mind.

"The panel has made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that Mr Simon Graves should be the subject of a prohibition order, with no provision for a review period.