A PE teacher who worked at a school in Bradford has been struck off for taking heroin.

Laura Wilson, 38, taught at Dixons City Academy in Bradford but was dismissed on 12 July 2017.

A professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency found she was “guilty of unacceptable professional conduct”, but she may apply to return to the profession in two years’ time.

According to the panel’s decision notice, Ms Wilson confessed to taking heroin outside of school between 1 January 2017 and 12 June 2017.

During the hearing, it was alleged that she had also been “misleading” and “dishonest” by not disclosing that an absence from work was related to her misuse of heroin.

However, the panel found this allegation “not proved” due to “lack of medical evidence submitted” linking her absence to taking heroin. 

The panel judged that Ms Wilson was “guilty of unacceptable professional conduct”, because taking Class A drugs is a breach of the Teacher Standards. 

The decision notice states: “Whilst the panel accepted the credible witness evidence put forward... that Ms Wilson had not taken drugs in the school setting and that her misuse of drugs did not impact on the way she fulfilled her role as a teacher, it was nevertheless noted that misconduct outside of the education setting will amount to ‘unacceptable professional conduct’ if it ‘may lead to pupils being exposed to or influenced by the behaviour in a harmful way’.

“It is the panel’s view that Ms Wilson’s conduct would pass this test.”

In the heavily redacted document, the panel accepted that Ms Wilson was “acting under extreme distress” and that her drug use was “her only coping strategy”.

The panel also said it had seen evidence of “previous good character statements and references”. 

A member of staff gave evidence that Ms Wilson was “a fantastic teacher who loved the profession, loved sport and loved working with children”. 

The panel noted she had “shown deep and genuine remorse for her actions and recognises the impact that these actions could have had”.

It said this showed she had made “significant progress” and that “whilst Ms Wilson may not currently be ready to return to the classroom... Ms Wilson could make a valuable impact on the teaching profession”.

In light of these findings, the panel recommended that while she should be prohibited from teaching indefinitely, she should be able to apply for the prohibition order to be set aside after two years.

The education secretary’s representative accepted the recommendation.