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Banned teacher Jane Porter running tutoring service from her St Mary's Island home

A former head teacher who was banned from teaching for life for bullying and mismanagement is offering educational services from her Chatham home.

Jane Porter has been disqualified by her professional body after a two-week hearing found a catalogue of failings at the two primary schools she ran.

The professional disciplinary panel concluded she had humiliated staff, failed to properly safeguard pupils, not adequately looked after children with special educational needs, not managed one primary properly and engaged in the maladministration of early years assessments.

Jane Porter
Jane Porter

She made headlines in 2013 by banning children from mentioning Christmas, and her management prompted parental protests outside the school gates.

The National College for Teaching Leadership’s misconduct panel banned Ms Porter, 50, indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

Now it can be revealed that the former head, who left her post in Gravesend in 2015 on “leave of absence” has been running her own business assessing children and adults to find out whether they have a learning difficulty.

She has set up “Jane Porter - Learning Difficulty Screening and Tutoring”, based at her plush home in Woodrush Place on St Mary’s Island.

She charges £40 for a consultation and £120 for a screening, which she claims will test for dyslexia, perceptual processing disorder Irlen Syndrome or dyscalculia, a learning difficulty involving maths.

Tutoring charges range from £30 for one session to a whopping £175 for a six week “intensive reading therapy” course.

Former head Jane Porter banned pupils at at Whitehill Primary School from talking about Christmas
Former head Jane Porter banned pupils at at Whitehill Primary School from talking about Christmas

On the company’s Facebook page, Ms Porter asks: “Are you concerned about your child’s progress at school? Are you concerned about the impact of the new school curriculum on your child? Do you struggle with reading?”

She goes on to say she is an experienced teacher with a degree in psychology, specialising in cognition and learning.

The statement continues: “I have successfully taught across the primary age range and tutored students in English, maths and science through their GCSEs, A-levels and have even supported students in further education with time management, study and exam skills.”

She says she can also help with handwriting, grammar, punctuation and spelling, calculations, logic and problem solving.

Peter Read, former vice-chairman of governors at one of Ms Porter’s previous schools and now running Kent Independent Education Advice, said: “It’s ironic given the emphasis placed in the [disciplinary panel] report on the poor treatment of SEN pupils.

"The panel decision has no legal effect on the continuance of this provision.”

Ms Porter could not be reached for comment.

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