Teacher banned after having sexual relationship with former pupil

Adam Akram, 31, met the sixth form pupil when he was teaching maths at The King’s Academy in Coulby Newham, near Middlesbrough.

He began a relationship with the 17-year-old in February 2022, after she left the school, and three months later the school was alerted when they were seen together in a car.

Akram, who said he was having “an affair” with the pupil, resigned in June.

A Teaching Regulation Agency misconduct panel ruled that he should be banned from the classroom indefinitely.

The pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the panel that she was “really happy” in a relationship with her former teacher and “felt safe with him”.

She said they “started off as friends” but their relationship “developed from there” and she is “not a victim”.

The pupil also said she would sit in his car and chat to him when he was working part time as a pizza delivery driver.

Akram accepted that he had broken a rule, set out in the school’s Employment Handbook, which states that staff should “always maintain a professional distance when relating to students and to those who have left the school within three years”.

The misconduct panel said his conduct “fell significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher” and he had abused a position of trust.

In its ruling, the panel stated: “He has acknowledged the error of judgement that he made and has expressed remorse that his actions have brought the teaching profession into disrepute.

“He has recognised that his actions were inappropriate and that there was an imbalance of power in the relationship that he developed with (the pupil) given that he had been in a position of authority.

“The panel noted, however, that Mr Akram has not yet recognised any impact that his actions may have had on (the pupil) and that he described his relationship with her as an affair.”

Akram was told that he can appeal against the teaching ban within 28 days.