EXCLUSIVE Teacher 'treated like paedophile' after lesson about puberty

EXCLUSIVE History teacher, 54, was ‘treated like a paedophile’ and faces classroom ban after giving science lesson about puberty that ‘upset’ children with gender dysphoria

• History teacher Roy Huggins, 54, was asked to fill-in for an absent colleague
• He read from a text book about the physical changes that occur during puberty
• But several pupils later lodged complaints about ‘inappropriate’ comments

A senior teacher has told how he was ‘treated like a paedophile’ and faced being banned from the profession over a science lesson about puberty that upset children with gender identity issues.

Roy Huggins, 54, a history teacher with more than 30 years’ experience, was asked to fill-in for an absent colleague to teach a class of 11 and 12-year-olds.

He read from a national curriculum text book about the physical changes to the bodies of boys and girls during puberty and provided some additional explanation to help the pupils understand. He believed the lesson went well.

But unknown to Mr Huggins there were at least two pupils in the Year 7 class who were ‘diagnosed with gender dysphoria’ and several pupils later lodged complaints about ‘inappropriate’ comments he made in the lesson which caused offence.

Instead of simply discussing the problem with Mr Huggins to avoid a repetition, the school reported him to the local authority safeguarding body who deal with allegations against adults working with children.

Roy Huggins, 54, pictured, a history teacher with more than 30 years’ experience, filled-in for an absent colleague to teach a class of 11 and 12-year-olds

He read from a national curriculum text book about the physical changes to the bodies of boys and girls during puberty and provided some additional explanation to help the pupils at Retford Oaks Academy, pictured, understand

To his relief Mr Huggins was quickly cleared of any wrongdoing and he said the authority even ‘criticised the school.’

But not satisfied with the conclusion, the headteacher at Retford Oaks Academy in Nottinghamshire then referred Mr Huggins to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) who have the power to ban teachers from working with children.

It triggered a ‘nightmare’ two months during which the married father-of-two and grandfather became ‘suicidal’ as a reputation built up over decades at the top of his profession was put at risk.

He blamed his treatment on a culture at the school for ‘pushing a radical agenda.’

Last week he received notification from the DBS that he was in the clear as there was no case to answer, but he decided to publicly reveal details of his ordeal as a warning of what can happen to teachers treading through today’s gender identity minefield.

Speaking from his home in South Yorkshire, Mr Huggins said: ‘What’s happened to me is a cautionary tale for our modern times of how systems can be abused by people pushing an agenda. Maybe my experience has shined a light on why quite a few people are leaving the profession.’

Instead of backing him, he said the school authorities ‘threw me to the lions’ and warned in the current culture ‘they are prepared to sacrifice people on the altar of these ideologies.’

The incident happened in late March when Mr Huggins was working part-time as a supply teacher at the school he worked at full-time during Covid.

But unknown to Mr Huggins there were at least two pupils in the Year 7 class who were ‘diagnosed with gender dysphoria’

Several pupils later lodged complaints about ‘inappropriate’ comments Mr Huggins made in the lesson which caused offence 

During a long career as a history teacher he has also been an assistant head, educational consultant and written books and education content about teaching.

He was helping struggling pupils in the library when he was called to teach a class of 30 children who had no science teacher.

The head of science told him: ‘Roy you are dealing with this lesson on puberty.’

He said: ‘It’s every teacher’s nightmare to be stuck with something like that and I said “can we change it to something else as I’m not comfortable teaching it?” This is a difficult subject to teach in today’s day and age and I’m a history teacher with no training in something like this.’

However, he agreed to stick to the planned lesson topic.

The task was to take information from a text book to design an information poster about changes to a man’s and woman’s body in puberty.

He said: ‘I read from the text book and talked about the hormonal changes that take place to the body during puberty. The text book described how boys develop broader shoulders and girls develop wider hips. One child said to me “Sir why do women have bigger hips” to which I replied “to have children.”

‘I said when my grandson was born last month he fitted into the palm of my hands like this [cupping his hands together] and was the size of a small football.

He was so ‘embarrassed’ about the accusation he only told his wife Julie, right, a primary school teacher

‘I said during puberty boys develop more muscles, women also develop more muscles as well but different muscles in order to give birth. I said when my wife gave birth and my daughter gave birth it was rather like “having a poo.” You say this because they tell you to personalise it, contextualise it.’

Mr Huggins said he talked about developing body and facial hair and when boys should start to shave. He also said it was a good time for boys to work out in the gym to add muscle as they produced far more testosterone ‘than an old man like me.’

‘What I didn’t know is that there were children in that classroom who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria and who were apparently upset by this. I had no idea of this.

‘In order to be referred to safeguarding you have got to have caused “serious harm.” They said I made inappropriate comments and caused offence and harm to the children.’

Mr Huggins has never been given any details of the gender identity issues of the pupils involved, who has complained or told by the school why he was referred to the authorities.

However, he was given feedback about the complaints from the supply agency. He was accused of saying ‘boys must be muscly to attract girls’, ‘boys must start at the gym at 12 to get muscly’ and ‘girls get hips to allow them to child bear, something all women should do.’

Other alleged comments were: ‘Stay away from women at the time of the month’, ‘boys must be clean shaven and girls must shave too’ and ‘make sure you smell nice to attract the ladies.’

One pupil also complained of being told to draw a penis, breasts and V shape in his book by the teacher.

The headteacher at Retford Oaks Academy in Nottinghamshire referred Mr Huggins to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) who have the power to ban teachers from working with children

Mr Huggins has never been given any details of the gender identity issues of the pupils involved, who has complained or told by the school why he was referred to the authorities

Mr Huggins said the comments were either ‘untrue’, taken out of context or the result of a misunderstanding.

In his statement given to the local authority, he stated: ‘I feel my conscience is clear and that I have not done anything wrong. I am always happy to reflect and learn from my mistakes, but I am at a complete loss over the allegations that have been made and why they were not addressed at the school level as they are pretty laughable.’

Two days after the lesson Mr Huggins was phoned by the supply agency as he drove home from work and told ‘there has been a complaint.’

For the next two months the family man’s life was on hold. The letter stating he faced being barred from teaching caused him to ‘almost have a heart attack.’

‘I was on the floor, it was the worst thing that can ever happen to you as a teacher. You are being put through the same process as though you were a paedophile or hit or harmed a child. That’s how serious it is and it can destroy your reputation.

‘There I was at the end of a glittering career and it could all be destroyed by these false allegations by a school who decided to pursue this radical agenda.

‘It utterly destroyed my confidence and left me at times feeling suicidal. Thinking I’ve worked hard all my life, I’ve devoted myself to teaching, they are desperate for teachers and they are treating someone like me like this, why?’

He was so ‘embarrassed’ about the accusation he only told his wife Julie, a primary school teacher.

Despite being cleared he has never received an apology and must inform any school of the investigation if he applies for work in future

Mr Huggins said his crime was to ‘upset some children who have got gender issues.’ He is ‘mystified’ as to why they complained but believes it must be because they don’t conform to the genders he was discussing.

Despite being cleared he has never received an apology and must inform any school of the investigation if he applies for work in future.

Adding: ‘I have this question mark over me now. My advice to other people going into the profession is “don’t teach science and don’t teach a puberty lesson” because it’s a minefield.’

He said he would continue to do occasional supply teaching but would largely steer clear of the classroom as he has concluded ‘I don’t fit with the new culture.’

A spokeswoman for the Diverse Academies Trust, who run the school, declined to comment.

Retford Oaks Academy has its own ‘inclusion’ policy. As part of its ‘relationships and sex education policy’ it promises ‘through a formal partnership with Stonewall, to promote the wellbeing of children who identify as LGBTQ+, and to educate the wider academy community on issues around gender identity.’

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