BOARDING SCHOOL SIR FACES AXE
He faces inappropriate relationship rap
A BOARDING school teacher faces being struck off over claims of an inappropriate relationship with a female pupil.
Dan Barlow went on dog walks with the sixth-year prefect and spent time alone with her at the school.
Barlow – who was an assistant head of the senior school at St Leonards in St Andrews – is accused of taking the girl to his home and sending her an email containing medical information about other pupils.
Barlow was also head of year and a languages teacher at the £38,000-ayear school.
At a hearing which began yesterday in Edinburgh, the General Teaching Council for Scotland allege his relationship with the pupil breached professional boundaries. The GTC accused Barlow of regularly spending time alone with her while walking his dog in 2019.
He is also accused of regularly being alone with the girl in the common room and watching films with her.
It’s alleged he took the pupil to his home to return a trailer after a camping trip and in September 2019, took her to tourist attraction Falkland Palace.
Another charge alleges Barlow sent an email to her containing medical details about another pupil. A final allegation accuses him of lying about sending the email in a disciplinary hearing at St Leonards in December 2019. He left the school the same month.
Barlow admitted or partly admitted the charges but denied the relationship was inappropriate.
The teacher admitted to going on dog walks and being alone in the common room with the pupil.
He said they had watched an “Alec Guiness” film – probably Kind Hearts and Coronets – but objected to the word “regularly”.
He also admitted sending an email concerning another pupil’s food allergy but he denied this was medical information.
He insisted the girl didn’t go inside his home on the occasion he drove her there.
The hearing is scheduled to end on Friday.