Sheffield teacher banned from profession for life over sexual misconduct
He was found to have committed sexual misconduct while working at Notre Dame High School
A teacher from a Catholic school who "forced" a pupil to give him oral sex has been banned for life from the profession.
Jason Harrison was found to have committed sexual misconduct while working at Notre Dame High School, a co-ed Catholic school for students aged 11 to 18 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
The incident had left the former student "scared", she said, adding that she had gone through "four years of hell" following the incident.
The teacher, who was 29 at the time of the incident, was later arrested and interviewed by police following reports from the student's friends but acquitted.
But a panel at the Teaching Regulation Agency found the student's allegations to be true on the balance of probability and gave Mr Harrison a prohibition order for life, stating he brought the teaching profession into disrepute, abused his position and violated the rights of pupils.
The panel heard that Mr Harrison joined the school in September 2015.
On February 28 2019, a student went to see him in his classroom to discuss some work at lunchtime during which an incident of a sexual nature allegedly occurred.
The panel found it true on the balance of probability that Mr Harrison touched the student's legs and bottom, exposed himself and encouraged the pupil to give him oral sex.
The girl's friends reported concerns about the incident on March 1 2019.
The student spoke to the headteacher and raised concerns about Mr Harrison's family, and said she had been joking with her friends and it had gone too far, but revealed to her mother that what she had said to her friends was true.
Mr Harrison was arrested on March 3 2019, and he and the student were interviewed by police the following day.
He resigned from his role at the school in August 2019.
In August 2021 he was tried and acquitted of a criminal offence relating to the incident.
During the criminal proceedings, the girl said Mr Harrison "asked me to get on my knees" and that "his penis only touched me where Mr Harrison forced it to".
The student's mother gave a statement on August 29 2019, in which she said Mr Harrison had pushed the student down so that she was on the floor and said "it will only take 10 seconds".
Mr Harrison denied the allegations, as set out in the response to the notice of hearing dated January 13 2023, and did not attend the hearing.
The student told the panel she now realised she had been "groomed" and was trying to protect the teacher at the time.
In written evidence, she wrote: "My perspective now that I am older has changed.
"I realise that I had been groomed and manipulated and can see that I should not have been worrying about protecting Mr Harrison nor the impact that a prison sentence may have had on him.
"It is classic grooming to make the child feel responsible and keep a secret and I know that now."
She also said: "I have gone through four years of hell... I am still scared of Mr Harrison and the potential that I may bump into him out in public... The events of February 28 2019 had a diabolical impact on me."
The panel noted that Mr Harrison had "failed to recognise the devastating impact of his actions" on the student and her family and had a "complete lack of insight and remorse".
It added: "Mr Harrison's failure to take responsibility for his actions provides evidence of a real risk of repetition."
Noting that "the findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a teacher engaging in sexual activity with a vulnerable pupil who was also a child", Marc Cavey on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education decided to ban Mr Harrison from teaching indefinitely in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England without any entitlement to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.