THE former head of a pupil referral unit has been banned from every classroom in England.
A Teaching Agency disciplinary panel found Annette Sale, head at the Phoenix Centre in Redhill between 2004 and 2010, guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
The 64-year-old locked children up in a time-out room, unattended, for long periods of time, the hearing was told.
A teacher since 1968, she was suspended and then sacked after a whistle-blower reported concerns about her conduct at the centre – which catered for primary-aged pupils with behavioural difficulties who had been, or were in danger of being, excluded from school – to Surrey County Council in 2010.
Following a three-day hearing in Coventry, which Ms Sale did not attend, the disciplinary panel found she:
locked children in a time-out room, unattended by an adult. She also left children there for "lengthy periods of time"
failed to adequately monitor or record incidents involving the physical restraint of pupils
advocated the use of physical force to transfer a nine-year-old pupil into the centre on a number of occasions
failed to take account of child protection concerns reported by members of staff
employed a supply teacher in November 2008 without undertaking Safer Staffing checks, including a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check
instructed an administration assistant to remove the teacher's file from the school's records prior to an Ofsted inspection.
A senior social worker told the hearing it was "a routine, almost daily" occurrence for pupils to be locked in the time-out room, which Ms Sale used as a behaviour management tool.
However, the teacher denied the room was locked or pupils left unsupervised.
"She maintained the centre was having to look after increasingly violent and challenging children and that a total of 18 children were placed at the centre, when its capacity was assessed as being only 16," said the panel.
"She maintained that the centre was understaffed and that, despite requesting support and raising her concerns with Surrey County Council, no steps were taken to address this."
The judgement was sanctioned by education secretary Michael Gove.
He said: "It is clear from the panel's findings and from their recommendation that the challenges faced by Ms Sale were considerable.
"It is also clear that in taking the actions that she did, and failing to take other actions in terms of monitoring and appropriate controls, Ms Sale failed to maintain the fundamental requirement for teachers to act in a way which safeguards pupils and ensures their wellbeing."
The Phoenix Centre was branded "inadequate" by Ofsted in June last year.
In September, it became part of Reigate Valley College.