A PE teacher at a £48,000-a-year private boarding school resigned after she was investigated for showing schoolgirls her underwear, a disciplinary hearing was told.
Lowri Williams, 27, was accused of not ‘maintaining professional boundaries’ with pupils during her time working as a teacher and rugby coach at Llandovery College in Carmarthenshire.
She is alleged to have encouraged a pupil to lie to their housemistress, discussed personal relationships with pupils and showed them what underwear she was wearing the next day.
The hearing was told she also allowed pupils to come into her hotel room, answered her hotel room door to a pupil when not fully dressed and asked pupils if they were seeing anyone.
She also talked to pupils about her weekend and showed pupils videos of her on nights out.
On top of this, Ms Williams has also been accused of ignoring safety protocols after she allegedly allowed pupils to continue playing rugby despite hitting their heads.
The Education Workforce Council heard how the school’s under-16s side travelled to London on March 17 to take part in the Rosslyn Park tournament.
One student, named as Pupil E, recalled going to the teacher’s room for 15 minutes because they were nervous about the tournament.
Lowri Williams, 27, was accused of not ‘maintaining professional boundaries’ with pupils during her time working as a teacher and rugby coach at Llandovery College in Carmarthenshire
Pictured: Llandovery College a £48,000-a-year boarding school in Wales
She said Williams was folding clothes on her bed, including her underwear, while wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
Pupil E said another teenager said the underwear was ‘nice’ and Ms Williams had a discussion about their relationship statuses.
She said Ms Williams told them she was speaking to someone but didn’t go into anymore detail.
Simon Bodley, former medical centre manager at the school, told the panel that with such away games the usual protocol would be that he would receive a message or email from physios telling him about any injuries.
But he said that hadn’t happened – and five girls presented to him as injured after the tournament including with head injuries.
The panel heard how one pupil, referred to as pupil F, told him she’d been kicked in the head during the game.
Mr Bodley recalled the girl had felt she ‘had almost been made to play on’.
Johanna Edwards, the former deputy head at Llandovery, told the EWC she started an internal investigation about injuries having allegedly not being correctly reported.
The EWC heard that during that investigation, Ms Williams resigned from her role at Llandovery.
The hearing heard how all the girls seemed in high spirits on the minibus home and were singing all the way. The panel were shown a video of them singing on the minibus and Ms Hands said they wouldn’t behave like that if they were injured.
It was said Ms Williams had ‘good relationships with pupils’. ‘She did everything I asked and more and would put the girls first. Formed her role with good humour and dedication,’ she added.
The teacher has nine allegations against her. As well as the London tournament, the allegations also relate to alleged conduct at a match at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and a netball game at Christ College Brecon. All events happened between September 2023 and March 2024.
The hearing continues.
