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Thursday, October 20, 2016

Ebbw Vale,South Wales - Teacher accused of pulling a chair from an autistic child and dragging him from the classroom

Pen-y-Cwm School is based at Ebbw Fawr Learning Communit in Ebbw Vale

John Leslie Mildenhall has denied unacceptable professional conduct at an Education Workforce Council hearing

A teacher pulled a chair from an autistic child and dragged him from a classroom, a fitness to practise committee has been told.
John Leslie Mildenhall, who was not present at Wednesday’s hearing, denied unacceptable professional conduct Cardiff’s Village Hotel.
He was accused of breaching policy at Pen-y-Cwm School, Ebbw Vale, in a series of incidents on October 6 and October 8, 2014.
The council’s presenting officer Cadi Dewi claimed Mildenhall on October 6 told the youngster: “This isn’t Pupil A’s world this is the real world” and “F this and F that, we can all swear, throw some more at me”.
It was alleged he told the child “give me better words than that, come on give me better” and that “it’s always Pupil A’s way, well not anymore.”
He was also said to have asked the child “is that the best you’ve got? Is that the best swear words you’ve got?”.
The hearing was told the teacher told Pupil A: “This is boring, give me something different” in response to his swearing and told him that it was better when he changed his swear words.
On October 8, it was said he shouted at the child, pulled a chair from under him and dragged or pushed him from class.
Teaching assistant Chris Carey said Mildenhall’s behaviour toward the child was “borderline aggressive” and that he was concerned Mildenhall was being “confrontational”.
On October 6 Mr Carey was called to the scene of an incident by fellow teaching assistant Vaughan Williams.
Mr Carey said when the pair arrived at the classroom they were “expecting John Mildenhall to require a physical intervention with child A.
Instead, he said: “I saw John Mildenhall was standing over pupil A and shouting.
“Pupil A was showing no signs of aggression.”
In a statement read to the panel, Vaughan Williams said Mildenhall was “putting on a bit of an act to get a reaction to get to crisis point procedure.”
That procedure could have resulted in Child A being removed from the class.
Mr Williams confirmed he thought Mildenhall was trying to “provoke” pupil A.
During October 8 the hearing was told that Mr Williams was asked to request colleague Mark Wakeford’s help to remove Pupil A from the class next door to his.
Mr Wakeford and Mildenhall attempted to use a standard method to tackle pupil A who became “quite agitated” and was “kicking out”.
Asked by Mildenhall’s representative, David Browne, whether Child A could have injured himself Mr Williams said, “Yes.”
“I could see Mr Mildenhall had his hands on Pupil A’s shoulders and he was pushing him out the classroom door,” Mr Williams said.
Mr Browne pointed out that the CPS had not proceeded with a case against his client because it was deemed there was no realistic prospect of conviction.
“The allegations set out in the notice of proceedings will take some time for us to unpick over the next few days” he said.
Mr Browne said Mr Mildenhall was not present at the hearing because he was starting a new job outside of teaching and was worried his health would be affected if he did.
The hearing continues.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/teacher-accused-pulling-chair-autistic-12048656

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