Sacked, the teacher who said his tie was pointing to 'his peanuts'

12 April 2012

A supply teacher has been sacked after he made a lewd comment about his tie during a lesson at a London Catholic school.

Rodney Williams told two teenage girls that he wore a tie to draw attention to his genitals, the General Teaching Council heard.

The school immediately contacted the supply agency and he was dropped from their books because of the "shocking" comment, a source said.

A complaint against Mr Williams, a supply teacher at St Thomas More Catholic school in Wood Green at the time, was taken to the GTC's professional conduct committee.

Mr Williams was teaching a design and technology lesson for 13 and 14-year-olds when a girl asked him why he was cleaning his glasses on his tie, the GTC heard.

The girl, known as pupil A, said Mr Williams replied: "The only jobs it was good for were to keep his neck warm and the arrow on the end pointed to his big penis'."

Another pupil said Mr Williams said the tie pointed to his "peanuts" but the GTC found pupil A's evidence was more reliable.

Mr Williams claimed that his remark was meant as a comment on fashion and he hoped the rest of the class could discuss how graphic images are used in advertising.

In a statement about the incident in May 2007, Mr Williams said his words were "injudicious". He said his reply to pupil A's question was: "It keeps my neck warm in the winter but serves no other purpose and looks like a broad arrow pointing at the genitals."

But the council found Mr Williams's comment was demeaning to pupils and he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. He was given a reprimand, which will stay on his record for two years.

John Dunn, director of Randsat education, which supplied Mr Williams to St Thomas More, said: "We haven't used Mr Williams as a teacher since the incident. Ever since then he has been marked on our records as unsuitable'.

"We always put child safety first. As soon as we heard about this incident we decided to stop using him until it had been investigated."

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