Teacher who asked teenage girl about her ‘kinks’ banned from classroom
Thomas Munro told one pupil ‘his fetish was girls in skirts and tights’
A biology teacher who asked a teenage girl about her “kinks” while he was supposed to be helping with her CV has been banned from the classroom.
Thomas Munro told the girl, who was named only as “Pupil C”, he believed children should be taught about masturbation before asking if she knew the difference between “fetishes” and “kinks”, a professional misconduct panel heard.
He was also found to have had “wholly inappropriate” chains of email conversations with two other pupils, named as “Pupil A” and “Pupil B”. All the incidents took place between 2020 and 2022 while appointed as head of biology at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls in Kent.
Mr Munro, 29, sent 150 pages of emails to Pupil A over a span of two years, the panel heard. In some emails he encouraged her to meet him outside of school, and suggested creating a fake social media profile to communicate with her outside of school.
In one message he wrote: “need to rant again today? We can do after school if you want!” (sic). Then later in the day he wrote: “I'm free !Come biology office :)”.
The panel found he sent 104 pages worth of emails to Pupil 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 new year to you too!,” he wrote. “No need to thank me, I am always here to support you! ( Well actually you can finally get rid of me this summer) xD. Here’s to a better 2022! (We can at least hope for the best!).”
During an intended CV clinic with a third child, Pupil C, the panel heard Mr Munro told her about a pupil who had “refused to do a biology test as she was on her period”. It heard Mr Munro then continued to talk about how more should be done to teach young girls about menstruation.
“He also said that masturbation should be taught and after this subject matter went on to explain how he masturbates,” the final outcome report reads. “Mr Munro [redacted] and discussed ‘kinks’ and BDSM. He disclosed that he had [redacted] then asked Pupil C about her ‘kinks’ and whether she knew the difference between fetishes and ‘kinks’.”
He then reportedly told her “his fetish, in order to be turned on was girls in skirts and tights”.
Mr Munro and the pupil then had another meeting during which he “kept diverting the conversation back to the day before and he asked if I had tried the [REDACTED] thing when you make yourself wait”.
The panel heard he also asked for her contact details on multiple occasions “so that when she left school and turned 18 he could talk to her further”.
She described being left feeling “uncomfortable” and “struggling with accepting that she didn't do anything wrong”.
An investigation was launched after a witness overheard some pupils discussing Mr Munro’s alleged “overstepping boundaries” with Pupil A. He was suspended by the school in March 2022, and dismissed for gross misconduct in June of the same year.
The panel convened by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found his conduct was “sexually motivated” and that it amounted to “misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”.
They also said there was “no evidence of insight, regret or remorse”.
“Mr Munro’s failings occurred in and outside the classroom and involved and directly impacted pupils,” the panel noted. “They occurred against a backdrop where he had received training on safeguarding.
“Mr Munro held a position of trust and responsibility as a teacher. He was also a role model.”
He was banned from teaching indefinitely and will not be allowed to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls has been contacted for comment.
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