A FORMER Wellington School sports and wellbeing teacher has narrowly avoided a teaching ban after letting pupils drink alcohol on a trip to Belgium.

Mr Gregory Durston – who worked at Wellington School between September 2021 and January 2023 - has been found guilty of allowing students as young as 15 to buy and drink alcohol on a five-day hockey trip to Belgium.

An investigation conducted by The Teaching Regulation Agency found that the former teacher had committed “misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.”

The investigation, published at the end of March, concluded that Mr Durston would not face a teaching ban.

In 2022, Durston led a hockey trip to Belgium, where the legal drinking age for beer and wine is 16. There were five other members of staff and around 40 pupils, from 15 to 18 years of age.

During the course of the trip, Mr Durston was found to have allowed pupils under 16 years of age to consume, order and purchase alcohol, as well as those above the age of 16 drink more than the accepted two-drink policy utilised by the school for formal supervised events.

A statement from witness A noted: “I was shocked with how much alcohol was being consumed by students…the pupils had drank on quite a few occasions.”

Pupil B stated that everyone was “going up regularly to the bar” and that around 45 minutes later, Mr Durston came round again and said there was a limit on how much they could order and they could only have two drinks but “by that time people had already drank so much more, around four and five drinks total.”

Mr Durston was also found to have consumed alcohol in the presence of pupils, which extended to drinking at a hockey game when he was involved with umpiring, alongside repeatedly saying “what goes on tour, stays on tour” in conversation with pupils.

Witnesses said they felt his use of the phrase was “controlling others in an unfair way.”

Mr Durston was also found to have left two members of staff responsible for approximately 40 pupils without ensuring that those two members of staff were aware of the fact.

After evaluating the evidence, the panel determined that Mr Durston’s conduct on the trip was out of character and did not detract from his ability as an educator.

Head of Wellington School, Alex Basttison, has said: “Wellington School takes the safeguarding of its pupils extremely seriously and, as a result of information received following the return of the hockey tour, the school carried out a detailed investigation to establish the facts.

“It was found that Mr Durston’s behaviour during the trip was not only inappropriate but also in direct contravention of the school’s policies.

“Disciplinary action was taken and the matter referred to the TRA. Safeguarding remains a priority for the School and all staff are provided with regular training to ensure that pupils remain safe.”