A Surrey teacher has been banned after messaging pupils about thongs, favourite underwear and shaving.

Miss Robyn Hedges has been prohibited indefinitely from the profession and can no longer teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

The 30-year-old can apply to have the order set aside after June 29, 2026 and has one month to appeal the Secretary of State’s decision.

In a Teachers’ Regulation Agency (TRA), she was found to have behaved unacceptably and brung the teaching profession into disrepute. Following failure to keep professional boundaries with students between February to May in 2023.

The panel, which sat in her absence after Hedges declined to attend the June hearing. Found she communicated with pupils via social media –  discussing underwear, relationships, shaving, body piercing and vaping. TRA did not name the school to prevent undue harm to students. 

Hedges was also said to have met up with pupils outside school and tried to conceal her behaviour. Asking them not to communicate with her, while her social accounts were being monitored and deleting exchanges.

The report reads: “Instead of teaching the dangers of social media to young children taking their initial steps into the online world, Miss Hedges actively exposed them to such risks.

“The panel therefore found that Miss Hedges’ actions constituted conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.”

In a signed statement of agreed facts, Hedges admitted the allegations in full. They read:

“Miss Hedges admits that she engaged in discussions… in connection with underwear. 

“Miss Hedges accepts that she initiated a conversation …about the topic of thongs, which was in response to (a pupil) asking what underwear Miss Hedges owned. 

“Miss Hedges also accepts that she received messages… in which (a pupil)  described what underwear she liked. 

“Miss Hedges also accepts (a pupil) sent Miss Hedges internet images of underwear that (a pupil) liked.”

“Miss Hedges accepts that she discussed with (a pupil) what underwear Miss Hedges owned and how [they] wore their underwear”,  the Panel Decision and reasons on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education report read.

The teacher also messaged about whether she had a boyfriend and “what things put her off”.

A week after pausing communications while accounts were being monitored, messaging resumed. With the teacher telling the pupil “not to tell anyone about their contact.”

Hedges also admitted deleting a large majority of messages in an effort to conceal what had been sent. She also admitted to deliberately misleading the school over the nature and extent of her communication with pupils on social media. 

The report read: “At the school’s suspension meeting, Miss Hedges accepts that she told the school the pupil had been in communication with her for one week and that Miss Hedges had been trying to ‘bat her away’.”

In January last year, the i revealed that 108 teachers across England were banned for life from the profession in 2022 – the highest in five years.

Read the full report online at https://tinyurl.com/Robyn-Hedges-Decision