Philip Culling was allowed to quietly resign after having an affair with a student but thanks to a whistleblower, the disgraced teacher has been held to account years later
A deputy headteacher who performed a sex act in a cupboard with a pupil at a top private school for girls has been banned from teaching for life. Married Philip Culling was a child protection officer at the Godolphin and Latymer School in west London when he targeted the ‘vulnerable’ pupil.
A director of music at the school, the 53-year-old’s attempts to groom the girl included taking her to a pub for his birthday and buying her flowers. They had oral sex in a cupboard and once kissed in a school lift.
The actions of the father-of-three, who was supposed to be responsible for safeguarding children at the school, were said to be an ‘open secret’ and he was allowed to quietly resign in 2014 following an investigation into his conduct. The school informed the police of their findings but two years later, he was able to take up another job in education.
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Eight years after Culling’s resignation, his previous actions were reported by a whistleblower and he was referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA). A subsequent tribunal heard the teacher and the pupil, known as Person B to preserve her anonymity, had begun exchanging emails from 2010, many of which he told her to delete.
Culling also obtained Person B’s personal phone number using school records and began texting her. A Valentine’s card was shown to the panel signed ‘Phil’, which was addressed to “by far the most gorgeous and wonderful person in the entire world”.
By 2012 the teacher was telling the pupil he loved her and a year later, they had kissed for the first time. “From then on, they would kiss when they met up,” the panel heard, including on one occasion in the school’s lift. Person B told the panel she had (performed a sex act with the teacher) in a cupboard in his office early in the morning on several occasions.
Culling called the girl the ‘LOML’, short for Love Of My Life. He also made her CDs and sent her flowers to wish her good luck for her A-level exams. On the night of her school leavers’ party, he secretly met up with the pupil in a public park where he took her virginity, the panel heard.
The pupil said that over the summer when nobody was home, the teacher came round once a week to have sex with her. After she had moved into a flat with somebody else “a lot of sexual acts including touching and oral sex happened in very public areas”, the tribunal heard.
Panel chair Jo Palmer-Tweed said the teacher had taken advantage “of the position of trust he was in towards a vulnerable child for his own gratification”, adding: “Mr Culling exploited his position to advance a sexual relationship with a vulnerable pupil, and his misconduct was of the utmost seriousness.”
Person B, she said, had felt ‘shame’ as a result of the relationship which “tainted her memories of her school experience”. Famous alumni at the £33,000-a-year school include celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and Hollywood actress Kate Beckinsale.
The girl told the tribunal that Culling had asked her to lie about the relationship in 2014 amid fears he would lose his job and went onto urge her “not to engage” with the investigation in 2023.
A spokesperson for the school said: “The TRA’s report reveals a shocking and deeply disturbing pattern of past behaviour which we unequivocally condemn. We fully support the TRA’s decision to bar Philip Culling from working in the teaching profession ever again.
“He left Godolphin and Latymer 11 years ago after a comprehensive governor-led investigation into his conduct. The Hammersmith and Fulham LADO was fully aware and supported the school’s actions at the time, and the police were also informed.
“Information and evidence not previously available to the school have now come to light through the TRA process and we are reviewing this. Above all, we are devastated to learn that a former pupil suffered in this way.”