A female teacher has been permanently removed from classroom duties after being found guilty of sending inappropriate messages to a student considered vulnerable at a special needs institution.

Kaodi O’Loughlin Campbell, aged 34, encountered the student while instructing at Elmwood School in Walsall, West Midlands. This institution caters to secondary students with social, emotional, and mental health challenges, spanning from September 2021 to May 2022.

Following her departure from Elmwood and subsequent employment at a primary school, she began interacting with the student on social media in January 2023, eventually establishing a connection on Snapchat.

Throughout the year, their communication persisted until the student reported the exchanges to authorities in October, prompting an inquiry into Ms. O’Loughlin Campbell’s behavior.

In one of the exchanges, Ms. O’Loughlin Campbell reassured the student, saying, “I’m not trying to approach you inappropriately, I’m not a pedophile. I just think you’re a wonderful person and wish the best for you.”

In another message, she advised the student, “Ensure you delete all messages from here.”

One message instructs the pupil, whose name and gender has not been revealed, to ‘delete these messages,’ while another states: ‘Add me back on Snap.’

A report by a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) revealed that after details of the communication between the two came to light, Ms O’Loughlin Campbell lied to investigators insisting that she did not send any messages to the pupil.

Kaodi O’Loughlin Campbell has been banned from the classroom for sending inappropriate messages to a vulnerable pupil at a special needs school she worked at

Kaodi met the pupil while teaching at Elmwood School in Walsall, West Midlands between September 2021 and May 2022

Elmwood School is a special secondary school for children with social, emotional and mental health needs

She only admitted to it when shown the messages they had exchanged.

The TRA met in January to decide her fate, which took place without a hearing following a request from Ms O’Loughlin Campbell.

She provided a signed statement of agreed facts and admitted unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, resulting in her being banned from teaching.

The report stated: ‘The panel concluded that Ms O’Loughlin Campbell breached professional boundaries in a way that potentially presented a risk of harm…. The panel accepted that she had acted without any malicious intent, and it recognised that there was no evidence of direct harm to Pupil A as a result.’

But it maintained that she abused her position and knew what she was doing was wrong. The report also slammed Ms O’Loughlin Campbell for initially lying to investigators.

It said: ‘She had also acted dishonestly in an attempt to cover up what she had done. In her written submissions to the TRA, she admitted that she had been dishonest in a self- interested attempt to avoid the consequences of her actions, rather than from any desire to protect Pupil A.’

It added: ‘For these reasons, the panel was satisfied that the conduct of Ms O’Loughlin Campbell amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.’

The disciplinary panel said its decision to ban her from teaching was also taken because they feared that she might do the same again.

The report stated: ‘The panel recognised that Ms O’Loughlin Campbell had made full and honest admissions and expressed an understanding of what she had done wrong in terms of breaching professional boundaries.

‘However, it did not have sufficient assurance that she had fully remediated her conduct and would not act in a similar way in future. In these circumstances, the panel was concerned that there was a risk of repetition of similar conduct in the future.’

A family source revealed that Ms O’Loughlin Campbell had been ‘traumatised’ by the fall out from the case and said: ‘The problem is she cares too much. She was always being sent letters of thanks from pupils and their parents but on this occasion she was naive.

‘Kaodi had just come out of university when she got the job with the school in Walsall. She’d got first class honours in Youth Work and Community Development.

‘But her training was suited to teaching juniors not seniors. The school should’ve recognised that and not accepted her placement and the agency shouldn’t have sent her there in the first place.

‘Kaodi had just five conversations online with this pupil. It was the pupil who found her on social media – due to her unusual name – and it was him who messaged her first.

‘When she was working at the school, she’d be the one the staff would turn to if the boy started misbehaving because she’d built up such a good rapport with him.

‘When he got in touch with her she felt almost obligated to reply and make sure he was doing ok. 

‘She thought because he was an ex-pupil and not a current one that she wasn’t breaking any rules. In that respect she was naive.

Ms O’Loughlin Campbell was struck off indefinitely and therefore cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England

After leaving the school and finding a new job in a primary school, Ms O’Loughlin Campbell began communicating on social media in January 2023 with the pupil

The pupil reported Ms O’Loughlin to officials in October 2023, leading to an investigation into the teacher’s conduct

‘But this whole episode has been blown way out of proportion and it’s killing her, it really is. She’s been left traumatised by it all.’

Ms O’Loughlin Campbell was struck off indefinitely and therefore cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

She is unable to apply for the prohibition order to be lifted until January 2028. If she does attempt to return to teaching, a panel will meet to consider whether it should be set aside.