Banned, female teacher found naked in bed with girl pupil
She’s struck off after ‘inappropriate relationships’ with 2 vulnerable teens
A MUSIC teacher who was found naked with a teenage pupil has been banned from the classroom.
Elizabeth Smillie has been struck off the register after forming ‘inappropriate relationships’ with two vulnerable female pupils who had lost parents.
One, who was aged 15, said Miss Smillie added her on Facebook, passed on her phone number and, on one occasion, asked if she ‘fancied Meryl Streep’.
The pupil revealed how the 38-year-old, who taught at schools in Renfrewshire, would pick her up in her car, buy her cigarettes and allow her to drink alcohol.
The inappropriate relationship between the pair ended when Miss Smillie tried to kiss her – resulting in the teen telling her aunt, then a headteacher.
It also emerged that Miss Smillie formed a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old pupil at Gleniffer High, Paisley, where she performed a sex act on her in a car park.
The pair were also found naked together in Miss Smillie’s bed by another pupil.
Miss Smillie, from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, and the pupil were also spotted kissing and holding hands during a day out together.
Documents released yesterday by the General Teaching Council for Scotland state that the panel have decided to remove Miss Smillie from the teaching register.
They said: ‘The panel were satisfied that the teacher’s relationship with each pupil was at the relevant time an inappropriate relationship. The context of the relationship, the nature, timing and volume of communication established that the relationships were inappropriate.
‘The specific conduct referred to in each part of the allegation was not conduct that was consistent with a normal pupil/teacher relationship.’
The documents added: ‘An aggravating feature was that both pupils were vulnerable at the relevant time at her flat.
‘In particular, the panel found similar behaviour in forming relationships with vulnerable pupils who had suffered recent bereavement and in the detail of the particular conduct involved thereafter.’
Miss Smillie did not attend the hearing but arranged for a representative to deny the allegations.
She requested anonymity but that was denied.
The allegations against Miss Smillie were in relation to her relationship with a 15-year-old while employed by Renfrewshire Council during the 2010-11 session.
A second charge relates to the teacher’s sexually inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old pupil during 2011-12 while employed by the same council.
She was also accused of forming inappropriate communications with another two pupils between July 2012 and March 2013, using Facebook and texting.
A report about the 15-year-old pupil at the time, and known as Pupil A, read: ‘Pupil A states that one night when the teacher picked her up, Pupil A was drunk, upset and crying about her mother who had recently passed away.
‘The teacher then cuddled her in the car. The teacher spoke about her ex-partner and sexual experiences she had. She asked Pupil A if she fancied Meryl Streep and asked her details of her relationships with boys.
‘Pupil A described the last occasion when the teacher picked her up. The teacher drove “up to the Braes” and kissed Pupil A in the car. Pupil A pushed the teacher off and the teacher drove Pupil A home without a word.’
Details of a transcript signed by the 17-year-old pupil read: ‘She recalls one day, just after her dad died, that she was leaving the teacher’s class and the teacher told her to take care.
‘The teacher then began slowly offering Pupil C support.’
The teacher sent her a friend request on Facebook and gave Pupil C her mobile number.
A friend of the pupils gave evidence and stated he walked in on Miss Smillie and his teenage friend in bed together at the teacher’s
‘Drinking and playing dares’
home. The statement said: ‘They were all drinking. They were playing dares. The dares included Pupil C and the teacher kissing intimately.
‘At the end of the night two pupils slept on the sofas and the teacher and Pupil C had gone into the teacher’s bedroom.
‘The teacher had disclosed to them that night that she was gay. Pupil C had stated that night that she wanted to sleep with a teacher before she left school.
‘The following morning Pupil D went into the teacher’s bedroom and saw Pupil C and the teacher in bed naked.’
The GTCS removed Miss Smillie from the register, stating that the allegations found proved amounted to misconduct.
In its ruling, the body said: ‘The allegations demonstrated a pattern of behaviour by the teacher which indicated that there was a risk of recurrence.’