Lee Hessey

Introduction

Lee Hessey is the former chief executive officer of The Forge Academy Trust in Nottingham who was banned from teaching in 2026 after a Teaching Regulation Agency panel proved he had sent messages describing parents as “scrotes, vermin and pond life” and mocking a mother who broke down crying when her child left the school. Hessey faced a catalogue of allegations about intimidating pupils and parents; the panel rejected much of the case but proved the message campaign, found it unacceptable professional conduct, and the Secretary of State banned him for two years before review.

The published decision is the primary public record of both what was proved and what was not.

Background Information

Hessey led The Forge Academy Trust as CEO and served as interim headteacher at its school in Nottingham. The case began with a whistleblowing complaint by a colleague — Colleague B in the decision — submitted on 14 April 2023, weeks after the events described, which the panel treated as carrying significant evidential weight precisely because of its timing. The trust investigated, and the matter reached the TRA as an allegation of unacceptable professional conduct spanning the 2021/22 to 2022/23 period.

Because Hessey was both trust CEO and interim head, the panel judged his conduct against the standards for school leadership, noting that a CEO setting the tone for staff behaviour toward parents and pupils carries weight an ordinary teacher’s does not. Hessey admitted some allegations, denied others, and contested the case at a hearing.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations vs. proved. The claims in this section come from a whistleblowing complaint and the trust’s investigation, and were tested at a TRA hearing. The panel found several allegations not proved — including shouting at a pupil and intimidating parents; only the message allegations described below were proved, and Hessey admitted some of them. He has not been criminally charged, and the findings are regulatory, not judicial.

According to the published decision, the panel found proved that between September 2022 and April 2023 Hessey sent messages to two colleagues with language that was inappropriate, homophobic, misogynistic, racist and transphobic, or discriminatory toward disability — allegation 8, substantially proved — including a message gloating that he had “just got rid of a child” and that the mother “broke down crying” when he imposed the exclusion, a message declaring “I am head now… My way”, and a message calling a parent a “stupid cow”. The panel found proved that he had spoken of having “a list of five children that [he] wanted to get rid of”, had discussed a pupil who had “pissed themselves” after he shouted at him, and had said he had “proper rattled him” — but found not proved the further claim that he had said he had “broken” the pupil. It also proved that he described parents as “scrotes, vermin and pond life”, and proved that he referred to complaining parents as “low life”.

The panel expressly found not proved the allegations that he shouted at and intimidated Pupil A, that he spoke of a need to “rattle pupils, make them jump”, that he intimidated parents in person, and parts of the message allegations that lacked corroboration — reasoning in one place that the evidence relied essentially on a single colleague’s recollection. It concluded the proven messages demonstrated repeated failures of mutual respect and tolerance, amounting to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. Hessey’s position was that the messages were ’letting off steam’ in a closed group during a stressful period, not statements of his beliefs.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel recommended a prohibition order with a two-year review period, citing the seriousness of a CEO and interim headteacher describing parents in such terms, and the decision on behalf of the Secretary of State agreed, weighing Hessey’s contribution to the education sector and developing insight. The published order states he is “prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England” until the review right arises. The determination is dated 13 July 2026.

The ban was published on GOV.UK on 3 September 2026. No separate mainstream press coverage of the case has been located; the public record consists of the regulator’s own published decision. The decision is a rare published example of a trust CEO — not a classroom teacher — being prohibited, and of a panel splitting an allegations package cleanly into proved and not proved halves rather than accepting or rejecting it wholesale.

Current Status

Hessey is barred from teaching in England. The prohibition order carries a two-year review period measured from the order, so he may apply to have it set aside after that period; any application would be assessed against the proved findings of 2026. His role at The Forge Academy Trust had already ended before the regulatory decision.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The career impact removes him from every teaching and school-leadership role in England for at least two years, with the proved findings — including the substantially proved message campaign — capable of weighing against any restoration application. The case shows the regulator will prohibit executives, not only teachers, and that whistleblowing complaints made close in time to the events can carry the evidential weight that proves a case years later.

Sources

• Teaching Regulation Agency, “Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Lee Hessey,” published 3 September 2026 — source