A teacher formed an inappropriate relationship with a former pupil by arranging to meet up with her outside of school and telling her not to tell her mother. Cathryn Williams sent WhatsApp messages to a former pupil arranging to meet up with her and pay for a day out. Williams, formerly a teacher in Hastings, also told the pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, not to tell her mother, telling her she was “worried she’d make trouble if she knew it was me”.
A disciplinary hearing this month heard how Ms Williams, 59, joined Uplands Academy in Wadhurst as a geography teacher in June 2022. Later that month she began to send WhatsApp messages to a pupil at her former school, Hastings Academy. The pair continued to message for over five months before Ms Williams suggested that they should meet in October 2022.
Ms Williams told the hearing that she was motivated by a need to “be there” for Pupil A and to “take personal responsibility for her welfare”. She spoke at length about her concerns about the pupil - which she did not report to Hastings Academy at the time. Uplands Academy in Wadhurst (Image: Google Street View) She sent to the pupil: “We’re going to [redacted] this Friday.
I’ll collect u from Hastings, we’ll drive there, spend some time, then I’ll drive u to [redacted] for u to go back to Hstings. I’ll pay. [sic]” The pupil told her that she “did not know if that would be possible unless my mum knew” – to which Ms Williams replied tha.