Teacher who asked teenage girl about her ‘kinks’ banned from classroom
A biology teacher who asked a young girl about her “quirks” when he was supposed to be helping her with her CV was decided to be suspended from the classroom.
Thomas Munro said he believed children should be taught about masturbation before asking the girl, identified only as “Student C”, if she knew the difference between “fetishes” and “kinks”, a professional misconduct panel heard.
He was also found to have a “completely inappropriate” chain of email conversations with two other students, referred to as “Student A” and “Student B”. All the events took place between 2020 and 2022, while she was appointed head of biology at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls in Kent.
The panel heard Mr Munro, 29, sent 150 pages of emails to Student A over two years. In some emails, he encouraged her to meet him outside of school and suggested she create a fake social media profile to contact him outside of school.
In one message, he wrote: “Do we need to shout again today? We can do it after school if you want!” (sic). Later in the day, he wrote: “I’m free !Come to the biology office :)”.
The panel found that he sent 104 pages worth of emails to Student B between December 2021 and February 2022, including wishing her a happy New Year in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2022.
“Happy birthday to you too!” he wrote. “No need to thank me, I’m always here to support you! (You can actually finally get rid of me this summer) xD. Here’s to a better 2022! (At least we can hope for the best!).”
During a scheduled CV clinic with his third child, Student C, the panel heard Mr Munro tell him about a student who “refused to take a biology test because she was on her period”. Mr Munro was then heard going on to talk about what more needed to be done to teach young girls about menstruation.
“He also said that masturbation needed to be taught, and after this topic he continued to explain how he masturbates,” the final report states. “Mr. Munro [redacted] and discussed ‘kinks’ and BDSM. He declared that he had [redacted] He then asked Student C about his ‘foolishness’ and whether he knew the difference between fetishes and ‘foolishness’.”
He later reportedly told her that his “fetish was girls wearing skirts and tights to get aroused.”
Mr Munro and the student then had another meeting, during which he “moved the conversation to the previous day and asked me if I had tried this method” [REDACTED] “It’s what happens when you make yourself wait.”
The panel heard he also asked for her contact details on multiple occasions “so he could talk to her more when she left school and turned 18”.
He described feeling “uncomfortable” and having “a hard time accepting that he hadn’t done anything wrong.”
An investigation was launched after a witness overheard some students discussing Mr Munro’s claim that he had “crossed boundaries” with Student A. He was suspended by the school in March 2022 and suspended for gross misconduct in June of the same year.
The panel, organized by the Teaching Regulatory Authority (TRA), found his behavior was “sexually motivated” and amounted to “misconduct of a serious nature that fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”.
They also said there was “no evidence of insight, remorse or remorse”.
“Mr. Munro’s failures occurred inside and outside the classroom and impacted and directly affected students,” the panel said. “They occurred in an environment where he was trained in conservation.
“Mr. Munro held a position of trust and responsibility as a teacher. He was also a role model.”
He has been banned from teaching indefinitely and will not be allowed to apply for restoration of his right to teach.
Maidstone Girls’ Grammar School has been contacted for comment.
