A former Wiltshire teacher has been banned from the profession indefinitely after he “ingrained himself” into his pupils’ lives.

Dale Wills was found guilty of "unacceptable professional conduct" while working as a music teacher at Marlborough College boarding school, by a misconduct panel in August.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel found that Mr Wills “exhibited a pattern of behaviour which was potentially harmful to pupils” but noted this was not his intention.

The alleged offences took place between September 2019 and August 2021 and included vaping in front of pupils, sending pupils gifts, offering them alcohol, buying them vape products, and meeting them outside of school.

Allegations that Mr Willis failed to maintain professional boundaries with his students were found proven by the panel after a witness claimed he exchanged 7,000 Teams messages with two pupils.

“Inappropriate” messages sent to a student known as pupil B included “love you” and “that is secksy as f**k”, although Mr Wills denied any impropriety.

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The panel also found that Mr Willis allowed another pupil to “place his head on his lap.”

He was subsequently suspended by the college for gross misconduct and, following a TRA hearing, was prohibited from teaching indefinitely.

The TRA report said: “The panel was satisfied that the conduct of Mr Wills fell significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher.

“The panel also noted that many of the topics of conversation and the language used by Mr Wills was entirely inappropriate in the context of a teacher-pupil relationship, as they included topics such as personal relationships, violence, drug and alcohol use.

“The panel found that, through these communications, Mr Wills had developed and furthered a friendship with Pupils B and H, which was a clear failure to maintain professional boundaries, as Mr Wills had ingrained himself into the pupils’ lives.”

A Marlborough College spokesperson said: “The regulatory process led by the TRA has delivered a strong and definitive outcome.

"The panel found that Mr Wills’ conduct was professionally unacceptable and that it ‘clearly breached’ our staff code of conduct.

"As soon as the college was made aware of the concerns, we suspended Mr Wills and launched a thorough investigation which has led to this TRA hearing.

"We are committed to ensuring the well-being and welfare of all members of our school community including former pupils.

"Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by Mr Wills’ actions and we will continue to offer them our full support."