Teacher's late night emails to pupil 'not sexual'

A maths teacher who promised to find a schoolgirl the "perfect boyfriend" in a late-night email chat has been allowed to continue teaching.

Jamil Wali, who worked at King's Leadership Academy in Liverpool, exchanged more than 200 emails with the student, telling her in messages sent as late as 23:00 that "I am always here", and "I got your back".

Wali admitted to "excessive" and "inappropriate" contact with the pupil but said the emails were motivated by concern for the "vulnerable" girl's wellbeing.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) said it accepted that Wali's behaviour did not have a "sexual motive" and concluded he still had a "positive contribution" to make to the profession.

The tribunal heard Wali would discuss his own romantic relationships with the pupil, telling her: "I used to be obsessed with certain someone for such a long time… until one day I woke up and chose violence and deleted her."

Wali, who previously gave an interview to the BBC describing how he came to Liverpool as a refugee when he was seven, started teaching at the school, where he had also studied, in September 2022.

He would call the pupil "bro", "mate" and "wasteman" and told her "u [SIC] can come to me with the same problem 1000 times".

The panel also heard Wali appeared to discourage the involvement of the school's safeguarding team after the pupil came to him with a safeguarding concern, which he failed to immediately report.

He told her: "I'm not gonna tell her now. Relax."

Wali exchanged emails with the pupil in the early morning and evening, including on weekends, between 9 January 2024 and 12 March 2024, the tribunal heard.

Giving evidence, Wali said he was not aware of the requirement that staff should not email pupils outside school hours.

The panel was also told that Wali continued to communicate with the pupil even after he was advised by another teacher to cease contact.

The emails were flagged by the school's internal monitoring system on 14 March 2-2024 when Wali emailed the pupil after he claimed to have blocked her email address.

He was referred to the TRA by the school after a disciplinary process.

The tribunal found that the communication went "well beyond" what would be expected of a typical teacher-pupil relationship.

But it concluded that communication was not "sexual", despite being "highly personal" and "inappropriate".

It said: "The overall circumstances of the case, including the level of insight demonstrated, the significant remedial steps taken, the low risk of repetition, the absence of any finding of conduct of a sexual nature, and the absence of evidence of actual harm to Pupil A, weighed against recommending prohibition."

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