Geography trainer banned from educating after sending ex-pupil £500 and telling her ‘to remain out of Victoria Secret’

A teacher who sent a former pupil £500 and told her to ‘stay out of Victoria Secret’ as well as giving vulnerable students £1,000 for fast food has been pictured for the first time. 

Roger Towersey, 37, who was formerly a geography teacher at Ditton Park Academy in Slough, Berkshire, from 2018 to last year, has since been banned from the profession after a panel ruled his behaviour was ‘clearly unprofessional.’ 

Mr Towersey first began messaging Pupil A on TikTok just before her 18th birthday, where he wished her a ‘happy Easter‘ and the two continued to speak about shopping, money and college, a Teaching Regulation Agency heard.

The 37-year-old also sent the former student money four times, amounting to a total of £500 over two months and had sent her a series of messages between October 2023 and April 2024.

One of his messages to Pupil A read: ‘Be careful they will wonder where all the ££ came from. They will think your dealing or doing only fans. [laughing emoji] (sic)’

‘Don’t be getting anything too nice, I don’t want to be responsible for either of you pulling and accidentally getting pregnant,’ Mr Towersey wrote in another message. 

‘Stay out of Victoria Secret aswell [laughing emoji] Only joking have a good time while I’m b****y working. Its all I do, eat, sleep, shit and work. Adulting is not fun. [angry emoji].’

He also asked her what sports she did, to which the ex pupil said: ‘All sorts.’ The former geography teacher then replied: Wow, No wonder you stay in such good shape.’

Correspondence seen by the panel showed that Towersey responded to the former student’s request for £4 by saying he would send her £20. 

On another occasion, Pupil A asked the geography teacher for money again as she was heading out with family, to which he responded: ‘Blimey [Pupil A]! You spend fast! Okay, but last time for this month.’ 

During an investigation meeting with the school on April 23, 2024, Mr Towersey said: ‘As soon as I offered [to help Pupil A with money], I realised it was a stupid thing to do.  

He also added that he began speaking with the ex-student because he wanted to check she had someone to speak with and that he ‘knew it was beyond [his] remit’. 

Mr Towersey told the meeting ‘In hindsight [he] forgot that she was an ex-student and was just a normal person’. 

He also admitted that it was not language he would use in a professional setting and that he knew ‘this to be wrong.’

The 37-year-old had also spent £1,000 on fast food for Pupil B and Child C, as he admitted to allowing both to access the school site on weekends while telling Pupil B not to tell anyone else. 

Several CCTV clips, seen by the panel, showed both pupils meeting with Mr Towersey at the school. 

When Pupil B was asked how many times they had been at Ditton Park Academy outside of school hours, they replied: ‘lots of times… every weekend last year… maybe 100 times… [Mr Towersey] didn’t tell us that we should not come here.’

The panel found Mr Towersey failed to notify anyone that the two children told him they were hungry or cold and that they had attended the school outside of hours several times between July 2024 and January 2025. 

In a written statement to the disciplinary hearing, he told how he believed his actions were having a ‘net benefit to Pupil B’ and that his ’emotional wellbeing had improved and he was performing better academically’.  

‘This was a reason I thought I was doing something that was in the grand scheme of things reasonable, even though risking my job he was doing well. I did not consider that [Pupil B] was at risk of neglect,’ he wrote. 

The panel found his conduct was ‘clearly unprofessional’ and that his repeated attempts to ‘gain a level of familiarity with pupils’ which was not ‘appropriate’ for a teacher-student relationship. 

Mr Towersey was banned indefinitely from teaching on March 3, and can no longer teach in any sixth form college, school, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.  

However, he can apply for his eligibility to teach to be restored. 

A Ditton Park Academy spokesman said: ‘The safety and wellbeing of our students is always our top priority. Our safeguarding procedures are robust, well established and regularly reviewed.

‘Whenever concerns arise, we take them extremely seriously and follow all statutory guidance and policy.

‘As a result of this the teacher concerned was dismissed by the academy.

‘It was our school community who raised the concerns and it was our own prompt action, including investigation and liaison with outside agencies, which led to the Teaching Regulation Agency referral.’