Teacher let 'big risk' sex offender on school site

A teacher who allowed her sex offender partner on to school grounds has been told she can continue in the profession.

A panel said Alice Cresswell had shown a "very serious lapse of judgement" by letting the man drive her to work at St Monica's Catholic Primary School in Milton Keynes.

He posed a "big risk" to pupils having been sentenced for a sexual offence a year prior to the incident in March 2023, the Teaching Regulation Agency said.

However, it concluded banning "very good teacher" Ms Cresswell was not in the public interest.

The watchdog said publishing its findings would be sufficient in sending her an "appropriate message" about her conduct.

A spokesperson for St Monica's said Ms Cresswell had left the school and it was "fully committed to the safeguarding and wellbeing of our pupils".

She had worked there from September 2022 to July 2023 but got a job in retail after leaving, a report outlined.

Ms Cresswell had started a relationship with the man, named only as Person A, in 2018.

Three years later, he was placed on the sex offenders register for five years having been convicted of making indecent images of children in 2022.

Ms Cresswell told the panel his offence was "a long time before" they met and had occurred when he viewed the indecent images "out of curiosity".

She said he had been "inadvertently clicking on a pop-up advert" at the time.

The former teacher said she had not deemed it necessary to disclose her relationship with Person A to the school.

However, she accepted there was "no justification for allowing" Person A on to the school premises.

The conduct panel branded her actions "naive" but said she had an "otherwise unblemished record".

"I have concluded that a prohibition order is not proportionate or in the public interest," decision maker Marc Cavey said.