A LEARNING support officer has been reprimanded after failing to report in timely fashion that he had spotted a teaching colleague in "a state of inebriation" at a Wrexham special school.

Shaun Buxton did eventually raise a safeguarding issue over the incident, which he claimed took place at Woodlands Children’s Development Centre on June 9, 2017.

But he made the claim four months later at the time an allegation was made against him that he had struck up a relationship with a female colleague at the school.

A fitness to practise hearing found Mr Buxton behaved in an “unacceptable” professional manner while working at the Bellevue Road centre, which provides education for children with significant and complex emotional needs.

But Richard Parry Jones, chairman of the panel which sat at Ewloe, Deeside, to adjudicate on Mr Buxton’s case, said he was satisfied there had been “no malice” on the support teacher’s part whose actions amounted to an "isolated lapse of judgement".

The hearing was told Mr Buxton started worked at the centre in October 2014, initially as a behaviour support assistant, before progressing to teach physical education with a view to qualifying as a teacher.

In October 2017 a whistleblower raised concerns that he was in a relationship with a woman staff member.

There proved to be no substance to the allegation, but Mr Buxton then reported how he had come across an unnamed colleague drunk in charge of pupils on school premises.

The support teacher was later sacked from his role at Woodlands.

An investigation was launched by the Education Workforce Council (EWC) in March last year.

Chairman Mr Parry Jones said Mr Buxton was given a copy of the staff handbook and would have understood there was a duty of care to intervene when a colleague breached its code.

"These were vulnerable young people requiring a high degree of supervision and care. Their welfare and safety needs to be of paramount consideration at all times," said the chairman.

The hearing was told Mr Buxton confronted his colleague after she came into an office in what appeared a drunken state.

"I said 'You look rough', but she said she had only had a few for the (General) Election," he wrote in a statement.

"I went out to teach PE and passed her class and could see she had her head on the table and appeared to be sleeping. There were two pupils in the class.

"She said she had eaten something that had made her ill."

Mr Buxton told the investigation if teachers highlighted every safeguarding concern the school "would not not operate as it does".

"In my eyes I didn't think it was the biggest safeguarding issue in the world, but I admit it was one and I should have said it at the time," he said.

The committee found proven that Mr Buxton did not report a safeguarding concern in relation to a work colleague in a timely manner on or around June 7, 2017.

It also found proven that he only reported the concern on or around October 2017 in response to an allegation that had been made against him.

He was also found to be in breach of the school's Child Protection Policy and that all the allegations combined amounted to "unacceptable professional conduct".

Mitigating on Mr Buxton's behalf, Kevin Keen said: "It was an isolated lapse and there is no evidence of any other malpractice on his part. He is held in high regard by a number of people from a professional point of view.

"A false allegation was made against him which was dismissed, but it did open the door to this allegation."

Teaching assistant Meryl Millot, who worked at the Haven School in Mold with Mr Buxton, said: "He is an excellent role model to our students.

"I could see he was making a really big difference to students with profound needs."

The committee noted Mr Buxton had taken "corrective steps" and had learnt from his mistake.

The reprimand will remain on the education worker's professional registration for two years.