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Teacher barred over secret email plan for pupils

Katherine GrayLocal Democracy Reporting Service
News imageLDRS Kensington Park School - a modern brick building with concrete steps up to glass front doors. The school name is on a sign on the wall.LDRS
Arfan Munir Rai taught philosophy and sociology at Kensington Park School

A teacher at a west London private boys' school has been barred from teaching after telling his students to use fake emails to organise "secret" private tuition sessions.

A professional conduct panel found Arfan Munir Rai offered several of his students tuition outside the school and told students to email him using a different name to conceal his behaviour, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The former philosophy and sociology teacher at Kensington Park School was found to have failed to adhere to the school's child protection and safeguarding policy.

Rai may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside after 2 March 2028.

The panel found that "by asking pupils to conceal their identities through the use of fake names and/or fake email addresses, and by instructing them not to tell the school", Rai acted in a way that lacked the integrity expected of a teaching professional.

However, the panel did not find that tuition was intended to be provided without parental consent.

It was also found that allegations that Rai had told students to go on a secret table-tennis trip were not true.

The panel found Rai was in breach of the following standards:

  • Teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by treating pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect, and at all times observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher's professional position having regard for the need to safeguard pupils' well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions
  • Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school in which they teach, and maintain high standards in their own attendance and punctuality

The panel was satisfied that the conduct of Rai fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.

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