Teacher who gave hay fever medicine to pupil is banned

AMIDLAND primary school teacher who gave hay fever medication to a pupil has been banned from the classroom for life.

Matthew Pryer, aged 46, has been told that he will no longer be able to teach again after he gave antihistamine medication to a student in his care in February 2018.

The report did not reveal why the medicine was given but it is commonly used to treat hay fever and other allergies.

A Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel was told that Mr Pryer had instructed a child to take antihistamine medication unsupervised and failed to notify colleagues and the parents.

The drug was then given out later the same day and caused the child, who was on a care plan, to suffer from side-effects from the tablet that could have become ‘life-threatening’.

Mr Pryer had worked as a teacher for more than two decades but the panel said that the behaviour had fallen below expected teaching standards and said keeping his teacher status could undermine the safety of pupils.

A report said: “The panel finds that the conduct of Mr Pryer fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.

“The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a finding of actions which had placed a pupil at risk of harm.

“This exposed Pupil A to harm that could have become significantly more serious.

“The effect on Pupil A’s actual and potential well-being was significant. A prohibition order would therefore risk from being future.

“The panel considers that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Pryer were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession.”

The incident came to light after the child suffered from blurred vision. The panel said that Mr Pryer had “shown significant remorse and reflected carefully upon the serious errors of judgment and the potential consequences”.

Mr Pryer is now prohibited from teaching and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

He can apply for the prohibition order to be set aside in two years. prevent present such a in the