Teacher struck off for watching porn at school

A veteran teacher at a south-east London school has been barred from the profession after he accessed pornography and stored sexual content on his work computer.

William Schaper, 49, was employed as a general subjects teacher at Eltham College Junior School for more than 20 years.

He initially denied the allegations and said he "wouldn't do this sort of thing" before he admitted watching pornography at the school, a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard.

Eltham College said that none of the material viewed by Schaper was child-related, and he was dismissed from his post in January 2025 following an internal investigation.

A professional conduct panel of the TRA concluded on 15 September that Schaper's conduct was sexual, dishonest and lacking in integrity, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The panel heard that in January 2025, a test conducted on the school's internet filtering and monitoring system identified potential inappropriate material accessed by Schaper.

The school launched a formal investigation and compiled an internet activity report, which found that the teacher had accessed porn several times while at work during school hours.

It also found evidence that Schaper had stored pornographic and sexual material in his school Outlook 365 account since 2018.

When he was confronted by the school's acting headteacher in January 2025 after the investigation had concluded, Schaper initially denied accessing the material and tried to manually clear his browsing history, the panel heard.

The same evening he admitted to the acting headteacher that he had accessed pornographic material.

Eltham College Junior School held a disciplinary hearing a week later and Schaper was dismissed.

He was referred to the TRA by the school in February 2025 and admitted all of the allegations brought against him.

Schaper was not present at the virtual hearing which formally imposed a prohibition order with immediate effect that prevented him indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation, or children's home in England.

He is allowed to apply to have the prohibition order set aside after a minimum of two years, but not before September 2028.

Any lifted ban requires a new panel to evaluate Schaper's insight and rehabilitation.

An Eltham College spokesperson confirmed that Schaper was dismissed in January 2025 after his inappropriate use of IT was detected by school monitoring systems.

"We can also confirm that the material viewed was not child-related but was clearly inappropriate for a teacher," they said. "Pupil safeguarding is, and always will be, our highest priority."

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