A TEACHER has been banned from the profession after sending inappropriate sexual texts to a student.
James Wall resigned as director of music at the independent Lucton School in Herefordshire when his actions were discovered by a pupil's parents.
He had dismissed his conduct as "just banter" but a tribunal found it was sexually motivated and banned him from teaching indefinitely.
The tribunal heard allegations Wall sent messages to two pupils, inappropriately touched one pupil, and was dishonest.
A Teaching Regulation Agency tribunal found that the 35-year-old had requested to follow 'Pupil A' on Instagram on the last day of term in 2022 and exchanged private messages. She was still a child at the time, the tribunal heard.
When questioned by the school, Wall said he thought "it was ok" as the pupil had left school, adding it was "just banter" and branding it a "grey area".
In November 2025, the tribunal panel found Wall had exchanged messages of a personal or sexual nature with Pupil A, including asking her to send a photograph of herself wearing an expensive pair of earrings he had given her.
The panel noted that in Pupil A’s police interview, she said Wall messaged her the following morning asking her to delete the messages, which she did.
"I felt shocked and horrified by what had happened," she told police.
At the tribunal, Pupil A said she could "not be completely sure", but that she could have suggested deleting the messages.
"It made me feel like I had done something wrong and I would get in trouble for it," she added.
Wall said he deleted the messages from his device as he was embarrassed by them but admitted sharing personal details of his life and asking Pupil A about her previous relationships.
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The panel found that he had inappropriately grabbed her waist, put his arm around her, and taken "insufficient care" not to touch her breasts.
Wall said this was accidental, adding that he likely said, in an embarrassed tone, words to the effect of “oops boobies.”
Wall repeatedly denied that his behaviour was sexually motivated, describing a close "older brother friendship" relationship with Pupil A.
The panel determined this was inappropriate and demonstrated a blurring of professional boundaries, adding that he "appears to have taken advantage of that closeness to steer the conversations to being of a sexual nature."
In a series of messages between the pair, Wall assured Pupil A that the situation was fine as she was no longer a pupil, but admitted: "I’m married, and I am feeling naughty on that front."
The panel also heard that the two had talked about a former teacher referring to them going "gooey" around each other and that Wall had said he was "looking forward to getting drunk" with her.
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The panel found his conduct was either in pursuit of sexual gratification or a sexual relationship and was therefore sexually motivated.
He was further found to have added a second student on Facebook in or around 2018 after they left the school.
Wall, who had previously been of good character and had made a "significant" contribution to the education sector, was prohibited from teaching indefinitely.
He taught at Lucton between September 2013 and September 2022.
