A Salford teacher who was jailed for grooming her students has been permanently banned from teaching.
On Thursday, 4 December, a professional teaching misconduct panel heard how Rebecca Joynes, 31, from Salford, sought out two students while still underage, before grooming and engaging in a sexual relationship with them.
In May 2024, Joynes was found guilty of six sexual offences against the two boys and was sentenced to six and a half years behind bars in July of the same year.
On 24 December, the Teaching Regulation Agency announced she had been found guilty of unacceptable conduct and of bringing the profession into disrepute. Due to the severity of her misconduct, MS Joynes received a complete ban from working as an educator in any relevant institutions and will not be able to apply for a restoration of her ability to teach.
Joynes was initially arrested at her home on Waterman Walk in Salford Quays in October 2021 while employed as a Maths teacher in a Greater Manchester school on suspicion of sexual activity with a child known in proceedings as Pupil A.
The panel heard how Joynes concocted a game during a maths lesson in order to get her phone number to Pupil A, groomed him with expensive gifts and had sex with him in her flat.
The panel also outlined Joynes’ attempts to conceal her behaviour, including using the social media platform Snapchat, where messages automatically delete after being read and by deleting the contents of her phone at the start of the investigation.
While out on bail for this offence, Joynes made “deliberate” contact with 15-year-old Pupil B, continuing her sexual relationship with him after he turned 16.
Rebecca Joynes has lodged no appeals against her convictions, nor has she responded to the misconduct allegations against her.
Ms Joynes failed to attend the misconduct panel on Thursday, with her probation officer informing the panel that she had waived her right to attend the hearing, along with forfeiting any representation, yet wished for proceedings to continue in her absence.
Shirlie Duckworth, a barrister representing the Teaching Regulation Agency, described her behaviour as planned and an “abuse of trust” which compromised her position as an educator. Duckworth said:
“The offending was assessed at the highest level of culpability… There was a significant degree of planning.”
She said it was “right to identify Ms Joynes as a paedophile.”
Although she denied the offences at trial, Joynes was unable to deny the existence of her sexual relationship with Pupil B due to her becoming pregnant from the relationship.
Born in January 2024, the child was immediately removed from Joynes’ custody, now being raised by Pupil B and his parents.
Duckworth noted that in his victim statement, the pupil described the trauma he carries from his experience:
“I will forever be Rebecca‘s victim and forever linked to her through our child.”
Regarding contributing factors, the panel heard that Joynes was introverted, having just come out of her only relationship, and suffering from fragile self-esteem.
These factors, along with the impact on Ms Joynes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, were viewed as influencing her offending behaviour, but the extent to which they mitigated her behaviour is considered “extremely limited.”
The panel decided that Joynes had breached various teacher’s standards, disregarded the need to safeguard pupils, and not respected professional boundaries with her students.
Panel chair Phil Thompson said: “The behaviour involved in committing the offence had a serious and potentially long-standing harmful impact on the safety and or security of the children in question.”
