A primary teacher faces being banned from the profession after he was caught talking in a “sexual nature” to someone he believed was a young girl in an undercover police sting.
Thomas Page, also known as Thomas Watson, was arrested in 2021 and later charged with three counts of making indecent photographs of a child and one charge of attempting sexual communication with a girl he believed was 13-years-old.
Thomas Page worked at Whitehill Primary School and Nursery, in Sun Lane, Gravesend, for 10 years. Picture: Google
Page, who was working at Whitehill Primary School and Nursery in Sun Lane, Gravesend, had been speaking to an undercover officer posing as a young girl where he made lewd and sexual comments and tried to meet her for sex.
After being arrested, his phone was seized and data analysis of the device found he was part of a group chat where the indecent images were downloaded.
Page, of New Hythe Lane in Larkfield, near Aylesford, admitted the offences and he was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on December 14, 2023, after pleading guilty the year before.
The 37-year-old was handed an eight-month prison sentence which was suspended for two years.
On Tuesday (January 7) a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct hearing was held. Page didn’t attend and was unrepresented.
The primary school and nursery teacher was handed a suspended prison sentence in 2023. Picture: Stock
During the hearing, which was chaired by panellist Ian Hylan, it was heard how Page had been working at the Gravesend school since 2011 and was suspended in 2021 when police made school bosses aware of his arrest.
They heard how he had been talking in a “sexual nature” to someone he believed was a young girl – this included graphically describing sexual acts he intended to perform on her.
It continued, adding how charges against Page related to him having 35 Category A indecent images of a child, which is the most severe, 17 Category B and 77 Category C.
As the teacher had already been convicted, there were no witnesses or evidence which needed to be called and a representative from the TRA provided the panel with a copy of the certificate of conviction.
Due to the seriousness of the offences, Page faces a prohibition order which would see him banned from the profession.
The misconduct panel will make a decision in private within the next few days before publishing it.
As well as the suspended sentence, Page was placed on the sex offenders register and will be the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.
He was also ordered to undertake 150 hours unpaid work, given 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and told to pay £600 in costs.
Whitehill Primary School and Nursery has been approached for comment.