Teacher Alex Parkes has been banned after a hearing found he had shoved a pupil at Springwell Leeds Academy - a social, emotional and mental health special school.

He had recently been appointed a teaching assistant at a mainstream school after a spell out of the education sector following the incident.

The offending behaviour took place in November 2018 when a pupil became disruptive in a corridor and refused to attend a lesson, the Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel heard.

Mr Parkes attempted to return him to that lesson by using physical contact, during which the pupil fell to the floor.

The panel ruled that the pupil suffered no physical harm but became upset and could have been injured.

Mr Parkes admitted the allegation and that this had been unacceptable professional conduct, bringing the profession into disrepute. He was dismissed by the school after a disciplinary hearing.

The panel said: “The degree of force used by Mr Parkes was not insignificant and caused Pupil A to fall to the floor. Whilst no harm did come to the child, Mr Parkes’ actions could have caused physical injury.”

It said CCTV footage showed clearly that the pupil immediately reacted to Mr Parkes’ actions and was emotional and upset, and a paper put to the panel mentioned his negative behaviour at home following this incident.

While the panel did not consider that there was a particularly strong public interest consideration in retaining Mr Parkes in the profession - as there was “no evidence that Mr Parkes had made what could be termed as an exceptional contribution to the profession” - it said no doubt had been cast upon his abilities as an educator.

It was therefore possible he would be able to make a valuable contribution to the profession in the future.

The panel imposed a ban with a review period after two years, which was approved by Department for Education decision-maker Alan Meyrick.