Music teacher convicted of assault after holding pupil upside down to ‘cheer her up’ allowed to continue teaching
9 January 2025, 19:32 | Updated: 9 January 2025, 21:25
A music teacher who was convicted of assault after he held a pupil upside down by the ankles to "cheer her up" has been granted permission to keep teaching.
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“Quiet and calm” Sean Haythornthwaite told his school he took a "parental role" to try and make the girl laugh after she had been hiding under a table following an argument.
He claimed the schoolgirl was “laughing when he picked her up and the others in the class laughed with her, not at her".
Despite these claims, a parent complained and Mr Haythornthwaite was ultimately convicted of assault.
He described the February 2022 incident as a "well-intended but poor choice" that "ruined my life and destroyed my teaching career."
A Teaching Regulation Agency panel heard Mr Haythornthwaite was employed by Cumbria County Council as a music teacher, and was working at Seascale Primary School near Whitehaven at the time of the incident.
After a police investigation and trial, the teacher was convicted of assault by beating at Workington Magistrates Court in July later that year, sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay compensation of £100.
Mr Haythornthwaite had been working for six years at the time of the incident, and was part way through his postgraduate certificate in education, the panel heard.
A woman, who was not named, told the panel she was "utterly shocked" when she heard about the allegation.
It was "very much out of character", she said, describing Mr Haythornthwaite as having a "quiet and calm" manner.
Another witness said the teacher was "upset" and "really distressed... He was a bit devastated... He just seemed broken".
Explaining his actions, the teacher told the panel: "I took a parental role in a situation to try and cheer a child up because they are my responsibility and because I did not know to keep myself safe in a teaching environment.
"I made a well intended but poor choice, one that ruined my life and destroyed my teaching career."
Mr Haythornthwaite also said that his "only prior experience to this role has been training adults in either admin or retail posts".
"I did not have a teaching qualification and no prior experience of working in a school environment or working with children," he added.
The teacher said he was told by his solicitor that the charge was "nonsense", and that the case would be dropped upon review.
The panel concluded that Mr Haythornthwaite's conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct, but drew short of banning him from the teaching profession.
"The panel took the view that Mr Haythornthwaite's conduct was not malicious and was out of character," a written decision said.
"There was no intent by Mr Haythornthwaite to harm (the pupil).
"Mr Haythornthwaite's behaviour did not lead to a sentence of imprisonment, which was indicative that the offence was at the less serious end of the possible spectrum.
"I have concluded that a prohibition order is not proportionate or in the public interest."
