Reading teacher banned after having sex with pupils at Waingels College


A teacher has been banned from the profession after engaging in sexual relationships with pupils.

Gunsel Akyol , 64, admitted to having relationships with two girls at Waingels College in Woodley, during a Department for Education misconduct hearing in February.

At the hearing, a panel heard how Mr Aykol had had a relationship with a girl known as Pupil A from 1991 to 1993, and a girl known as Pupil B from 1999 to 2002.

Mr Aykol admitted to having a relationship with pupil A while she was at the school, and admitted to engaging in sexual activity and/or intercourse with her while she attended the school and/or shortly after she had left.

Furthermore, he admitted to living with Pupil A after she left Waingels College.

Regarding Pupil B, he admitted to having a romantic relationship with her while she was at school, engaging in sexual activity and/or intercourse with her while she attended the school and/or shortly after she had left.

Again, he admitted to living with her after she left the school.

Mr Aykol started as a teacher at Waingels College in January 1988. He was suspended after 28 years of employment in May 2016, after both the former pupils disclosed their relationships to the school.

Pupil A reported her relationship to the school in February 2005. A month afterwards, Mr Akyol received a final written warning from Waingels College.

He was then suspended when Pupil B disclosed her relationship with Mr Akyol in May 2016.

A disciplinary investigation started, but Mr Akyol resigned in August that year.

The Department for Education panel found that both of the relationships were sexually motivated, something Mr Akyol had denied.

In a decision made on Thursday, March 7, Mr Aykol was banned from teaching by Dawn Dandy, a decision maker on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.

In coming to its decision the panel reported: “Mr Akyol instigated, developed and engaged in sexual relationships with two Sixth Form pupils which he knew breached the proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position. This is evidenced by the way he concealed those relationships and asked the pupils to conceal them.

“The panel is satisfied that the conduct of Mr Akyol amounts to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.

“Accordingly, the panel is satisfied that Mr Akyol is guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.”

The result means Mr Gunsel Akyol is banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.