Simon Feasey, a Head Teacher from North Yorkshire, has been banned from teaching after it was discovered that he had been using the school credit card to fund extravagant trips for himself and his family.
In July 2014, Mr Feasey spent £1,900 of school funds on a private trip to Amsterdam with his wife and two children. The Head Teacher was able to disguise the holiday as a ‘pre-visit’ in advance of a school trip arranged for the upcoming September.
The following year, Mr Feasey used the school funds again to pay for another ‘pre-visit trip’ to Naples, costing over £2,000.
In 2016, the Head Teacher travelled to Washington DC to attend a learning scheme conference and used the school credit card to pay for the unnecessary cost of flights for his wife and upgrades that totalled over £2,000.
Later on that year it was agreed that two members of staff would go to a school in New Zealand to see how they implemented a learning scheme. The staff members gave a presentation to the governors on their return and the trip cost £5,438.
Mr Feasey felt that he should also make a trip to the same school so that he could view their learning scheme from a leadership perspective. The school funds paid for his flight, accommodation and expenses, but on this occasion Mrs Feasey’s flights were paid for privately. She did, however, stay in the accommodation paid for by the school and the couple combined their trip with a four-week holiday to the country.
On top of his dishonest use of school funds, an investigation into Mr Feasey also proved that he had knowingly disregarded safeguarding measures by appointing a staff member with a criminal history of violence. Mr Feasey was apparently reminded and warned about DBS checks and references, but the checks failed to materialise.
The Head Teacher was suspended from Bader Primary School in the February 2018 and subsequently resigned in July. He has now been barred from the teaching profession indefinitely by the Secretary of State.
