A teacher at a prestigious girls’ boarding school has been banned from class after students accidentally saw his YouTube search history – including terms like ‘girls in thongs’.
James Hindson was teaching geography at the £45,000-a-year Moreton Hall School in Shropshire when he clicked on the YouTube search bar, causing previous searches linked to his account to appear on a large classroom screen.
Students reported seeing terms such as ‘teenage bikini’ and ‘girls in thongs’ during class on May 7 last year, a misconduct panel was told.
Hindson, 69, who was also a churchwarden, was struck off the teaching register for two years after admitting unacceptable professional conduct.
The Education Regulation Office heard how students raised concerns after the search terms were shown during class.
The married father-of-three was fired after a school IT investigation found that between 2021 and 2023, “common themes of searches were for teens in small clothing, teens engaged in athletic activities or related to sexual activity.”
Mr Hindson told the inquiry he had accidentally shown his previous searches when trying to find a YouTube clip to use in a lesson on global trade.
He did not deny carrying out the searches – which included ‘teenagers having sex’, ‘teenagers stripping’ and ‘first time having sex’ – and said they were carried out at home.
James Hindson was teaching geography at the £45,000-a-year Moreton Hall School in Shropshire when his YouTube search bar was shown to pupils
Panel chairman Alan Wells said: ‘The searches were consistently aimed at teenagers, with repeated references to ‘teenagers’.
‘The panel placed weight on both the number of searches and the longer period over which they were carried out, which showed an ongoing pattern of behavior rather than isolated incidents.
‘The panel found it highly relevant that Mr Hindson taught secondary-aged pupils at an all-girls boarding school and that the subject matter of the searches closely matched the age group of the pupils in his care.
‘The panel also noted that some search terms were displayed during a lesson and while it accepted that Mr Hindson may not have realized that his personal search activity could be linked to and accessed through his school account, and that he had not deliberately displayed the search terms to students, it nevertheless considered that he bore responsibility.’
The panel ruled that Hindson’s behavior was sexually motivated and found his actions ‘significantly fell short’ of the standards expected of teachers.
In mitigation, regulators heard evidence of Hindson’s contribution to education, describing him as ‘reliable and hardworking’.
In written comments, Hindson said he was “ashamed” of his behavior and “the harm it has already caused to a number of students.”
The panel agreed he had shown remorse but said his ban was necessary to maintain public confidence in teachers.
Signing off the ban, civil servant Marc Cavey said: ‘I am particularly aware of the finding in this case of a teacher using sexually themed search terms targeting teenagers over an extended period of time, and allowing some of those search terms to be displayed to his students, and the negative impact such a finding is likely to have on the reputation of the profession.’
Hindson is now banned indefinitely from teaching at any school, secondary school or children’s home in England and Wales. He cannot request a suspension of the order for two years.
