BLONDE EX-HEAD TEACHER ‘PUT CRISPS DOWN HER TOP AND TOLD BOY TO COME AND GET THEM’ Pupil’s claim as she admits drunken antics on school trip

A FORMER headteacher has admitted drinking eight glasses of wine on a school trip before having “improper contact” with pupils.

A disciplinary hearing was told that pupils were left feeling “shocked”, “uncomfortable” and “awkward” as a result of Gillian Rew’s behaviour.

Mrs Rew, who was sacked from her £74.000-a-year post at Arbroath High School, admitted “improper contact” with the pupils at the General Teaching Council for Scotland in Edinburgh.

Pupils took to social media with their own versions of what happened.

One former pupil claimed: “Apparently steaming on a camping trip and flirting with the boys. Heard she dropped crisps down her top and got one boy’s head to ‘Come and get them’ haha.”

Another student wrote: “Everyone defending her, she would grope anyone that had a packet of crisps in their hands.”

Yet another claimed: “Mrs Rew came to a party with us as well and k’oed on the couch, that’s the way teachers should be. God bless Gillian Rew.”

The incidents happened on a sixth year trip to Lockerbie Manor, where Mrs Rew became drunk SHOCKER: The school and pupils’ version of events before she “engaged in inappropriate conversations with, made inappropriate comments to and had improper contact with pupils.”

Police investigated her conduct, but no criminal case was ever pursued against her.

Mrs Rew admitted she was “moritified” by her BOOZY NIGHT: Gillian Rew had eight glasses of wine behaviour and at the time was drinking too much, partly as a result of working 14-hour days among hostile colleagues.

But she is fighting to be allowed to stay on the teaching register.

She told the hearing: “I believe I have a future in education.”

Mrs Rew, 49, also told the hearing that she did not think any of her pupils “would have been particularly alarmed” by the events at Lockerbie Manor in September 2014.

“I don’t think they would have been particularly traumatised,” she said.

“I honestly don’t think they were uncomfortable – I think they thought it was a bit of light banter.”

She confirmed that on the night in question she stayed up until four in the morning and had drunk eight glasses of sauvignon blanc from a box.

She said that, as a result, she had no recollection of any of the misconduct.

Admitting to her actions, Mrs Rew said that she was “mortified” by her conduct on the night of the incident, when pupils had enjoyed a fashion show, ceilidh and disco.

Outlining the reasons for her conduct, she said that she was dealing with issues with alcohol at the time and was in “great distress”.

She said: “I was drinking more alcohol than was good for me.”

She said other members of staff were “behaving in a fashion that was hostile and undermining” to her role at the time.

Seeking to remain on the register, Mrs Rew said that she had undergone therapy and alcohol counselling since the incident.

Many pupils went online to defend their former head, saying the claims were exaggerated and that she had transformed the school and was great at her job.

One schoolgirl said: “OMG Mrs Rew. She was suspended for being drunk at the residential. It’s so unfair. It’s not like she harmed any of us.”

Another schoolboy wrote: “Sacking Mrs Rew proves Angus Council have an absolute zero banter policy. The amount she did for the school was unreal and for her to go like that is tragic.”

The hearing continues.