A West London deputy headteacher who engaged in sexual activity with a pupil in a cupboard in his office at a private school for girls has been banned from teaching after he had sex with a former pupil in a cupboard.
Philip Culling, 53, has been banned from teaching for life for a sexual relationship with a pupil when he was deputy head at top west London private girls’ school Godolphin and Latymer in 2012.
Culling engaged in a series of sexual encounters with the student – including intimate meetings in his office cupboard which was interrupted when a dinner lady accidentally walked in. Culling was allowed to quietly resign in 2014 without facing a disciplinary hearing, thereby escaping any kind of sanction and enabling him to continue working in education.
Mr Culling was rehired at Holland Park Pre-Prep and Nursery School in Kensington in 2016, to work in the office. Six years later, a whistleblower came forward, triggering a formal investigation into the teacher’s past. He was referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency, which has now banned him from the profession for life following a misconduct hearing.
The panel heard how the teacher and pupil, known only as “Person B”, began exchanging emails from 2010, many of which he told her to delete. He was also found to have obtained her personal phone number using school records and started texting her.
The panel was shown a Valentine’s card signed by “Phil” addressed to “by far the most gorgeous and wonderful person in the entire world”. The panel found this comment about deleting emails to be evidence that Mr Culling knew what he was doing was inappropriate.
The pair met secretly, kissed in parks, embraced in the school lift and on the night of the school’s leavers’ party, he secretly met up with the pupil in a public park where he took her virginity, the panel heard. Mr Culling had also taken her to a pub for her birthday during school hours and gave her CDs as gifts. He also gave her flowers to wish her luck on her A-levels with a card reading “to The LOML Good Luck! Xxxx”, LOLM standing for ‘love of my life’.
The relationship developed further when Mr Culling was invited to the student’s home for dinner by her mother where “they had all drunk too much”, the student told the panel. Person B said that over the summer when nobody was home, Mr Culling would normally come round once a week to have sex with her.
After she had moved into a flat with somebody else, “a lot of sexual acts including touching and oral sex happened in very public areas”, the panel was told. The chair described the “shame” Person B feels as a result of their relationship, and having been “coerced to lie to protect him”.
It is believed that Goldolphin school leaders did not contact police or teaching regulators because they thought the relationship had only commenced when the teenager left the school. Mr Culling was provided with a reference when he left the School which rated him as “excellent” in various facets of his role.
She told the teaching misconduct hearing that Mr Culling had ‘asked her to lie’ about the relationship fearing he would lose ‘his job and livelihood’. The panel heard: “She stated that Mr Culling told her what to say, to make it sound as if the relationship was as recent as it could be.”
The panel added: “We have heard evidence of the long-term impact on Person B including the shame she feels as a result of their relationship and of having been coerced to lie to protect him. This included when she recalled engaging in oral sex in a cupboard in MrCulling’s office and a member of the catering staff had come in and had not been aware that they were there. She spoke of feeling morally conflicted by their relationship and having to conceal it. It has tainted her memories of her school experience, and she referred to having “struggled to see herself in a good light”.”
The TRA has now banned Culling from teaching indefinitely, with no review period. The panel found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct, ruled he had brought the profession into disrepute and had displayed no remorse.
What did the schools say?
A spokesperson for Godolphin and Latymer School said: “The TRA’s report reveals a shocking and deeply disturbing pattern of past behaviour which we unequivocally condemn. We fully support the TRA’s decision to bar Philip Culling from working in the teaching profession ever again.
“He left Godolphin and Latymer 11 years ago after a comprehensive governor-led investigation into his conduct. The Hammersmith and Fulham LADO was fully aware and supported the school’s actions at the time, and the police were also informed. Information and evidence not previously available to the school have now come to light through the TRA process and we are reviewing this. Above all, we are devastated to learn that a former pupil suffered in this way.”
Holland Park Pre-Prep and Nursery School hired Mr Culling in July 2016 despite his resignation amid the scandal at Godolphin and Latymer and an article being published about it in the Daily Mail in May 2014.
A spokesperson from the nursery said: “Please be assured that our Nursery follows robust safer recruitment procedures in line with statutory guidance, including enhanced DBS checks and reference verification. The safety and wellbeing of children in our care remains our highest priority.
“We are aware of the recent Teaching Regulation Agency report concerning Mr Philip Culling, who used to work for us in the office not with children. The report relates to an historical safeguarding issue concerning an individual no longer employed by us.”
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