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I’ve been in teaching for the past 13 years, in one form or another. I taught secondary from 2005-2013, and since then have taught English as a Second Language to Adults. I’m very keen to return to secondary or 6th form college teaching, but I am concerned about an incident.
In the summer of 2009, an accusation was made against me in a town some 45 miles from where I live and taught (the point I’m making was that it wasn’t at school). I stupidly got involved in an incident with a 13 yr old boy who then accused me of saying something which I didn’t. He also alleged I’m been hanging around the area and around him before (which I hadn’t. As I said, it was 45 miles away from where I lived).
It was reported to the police in the morning. This was a Monday. The police called me asked if I would possibly be come in the following weekend to talk about it, as I lived too far for them to come to my house. As I was on summer break, I said I’d come immediately and got to the station at 3pm. I attended voluntarily. I assume I was not arrested as I was not told I was, no rights were read or anything, I did not have to give any fingerprints and I didn’t sign anything.
The interview lasted for about 20 minutes. I was told what the boy alleged I’d said and that he said I’d been there before. I said what I had said and told the truth. I was asked several questions.
I told them clearly that I was a teacher and gave details of my school of employment.
The police officer left the room and returned about two minutes later to say they weren’t taking it any further. She said that she believed me but said she thought I’d been silly to get involved at all in the incident, which I agreed. I was told it would just be kept as intelligence in case another complaint was made in the future. As far as I know the interview wasn’t recorded as I saw no recording equipment, and nothing was said about it being recorded.
I asked how it would now affect my career. The officer said ‘it won’t, we’re not informing your employer’ and told me there was no need for me to do so either. I then continued at the same secondary school for a further 4 years until a friend opened a new English Language School for age 16+ and asked me to join, which I did, and I'm still there.
As I said earlier, I now wish to move back to secondary teaching. Of course, I don’t want to have to go through this possibly coming up on an enhanced DBS and basically a stranger making a wrong assumption about me and withdrawing any job offer, especially with the embarrassment it would cause as I’m now married with children of my own. I have excellent references from both schools I’ve worked at and a complaint has never been made against me in school.
I just wondered what the chances are of it appearing bearing it mind that:
It is now 9 years later
I’ve never had any contact with the police before or since this incident, over anything
The officer said at the time ‘it won’t affect your career, we’re are not informing your employer’
Nothing was said to my school at the time and I was told that I didn’t have to tell them either. Surely If they had thought I was a danger they would have said something then, and can’t really come back 9 years later to mention it. I wonder how they would then explain why they said nothing at the time.
In the summer of 2009, an accusation was made against me in a town some 45 miles from where I live and taught (the point I’m making was that it wasn’t at school). I stupidly got involved in an incident with a 13 yr old boy who then accused me of saying something which I didn’t. He also alleged I’m been hanging around the area and around him before (which I hadn’t. As I said, it was 45 miles away from where I lived).
It was reported to the police in the morning. This was a Monday. The police called me asked if I would possibly be come in the following weekend to talk about it, as I lived too far for them to come to my house. As I was on summer break, I said I’d come immediately and got to the station at 3pm. I attended voluntarily. I assume I was not arrested as I was not told I was, no rights were read or anything, I did not have to give any fingerprints and I didn’t sign anything.
The interview lasted for about 20 minutes. I was told what the boy alleged I’d said and that he said I’d been there before. I said what I had said and told the truth. I was asked several questions.
I told them clearly that I was a teacher and gave details of my school of employment.
The police officer left the room and returned about two minutes later to say they weren’t taking it any further. She said that she believed me but said she thought I’d been silly to get involved at all in the incident, which I agreed. I was told it would just be kept as intelligence in case another complaint was made in the future. As far as I know the interview wasn’t recorded as I saw no recording equipment, and nothing was said about it being recorded.
I asked how it would now affect my career. The officer said ‘it won’t, we’re not informing your employer’ and told me there was no need for me to do so either. I then continued at the same secondary school for a further 4 years until a friend opened a new English Language School for age 16+ and asked me to join, which I did, and I'm still there.
As I said earlier, I now wish to move back to secondary teaching. Of course, I don’t want to have to go through this possibly coming up on an enhanced DBS and basically a stranger making a wrong assumption about me and withdrawing any job offer, especially with the embarrassment it would cause as I’m now married with children of my own. I have excellent references from both schools I’ve worked at and a complaint has never been made against me in school.
I just wondered what the chances are of it appearing bearing it mind that:
It is now 9 years later
I’ve never had any contact with the police before or since this incident, over anything
The officer said at the time ‘it won’t affect your career, we’re are not informing your employer’
Nothing was said to my school at the time and I was told that I didn’t have to tell them either. Surely If they had thought I was a danger they would have said something then, and can’t really come back 9 years later to mention it. I wonder how they would then explain why they said nothing at the time.
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