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Teacher banned after adult sites accessed in classroom

The Independent

|

September 03, 2025

A science teacher who was seen by pupils accessing “inappropriate adult content” during lesson time on his staff laptop has been banned from teaching for at least 10 years.

- HARRY COCKBURN

Teacher banned after adult sites accessed in classroom

Christian Watkinson, who worked at The Christian School in Takeley, Essex, admitted he had used his work laptop along with a smartphone hotspot to circumnavigate the school's filtering and monitoring system in order to access adult content and engage in adult chat sites while supervising students.

In November 2022, while presenting material to pupils on a big screen, Mr Watkinson clicked on a tab which "contained an image of a woman wearing underwear and a crop top which revealed the bottom part of her breasts," according to a report by a professional conduct panel convened by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

This incident was raised by the school as a concern with Mr Watkinson at the time, who acknowledged the tab, which he said was logged into his Instagram account, should not have been open.

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