Year 6 teacher faked illness for Portugal stag party and tore out passport pages to hide deceit

A teacher faked sickness to attend a stag do in Portugal and then tore pages from his passport in an attempt to cover up the trip, a professional conduct tribunal has found.

Joe Wilson, a Year 6 teacher at Listerdale Junior Academy in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, took unauthorised leave on Thursday 18 May and Friday 19 May 2023 — dates that were not school holidays. The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), the executive agency sponsored by the Department for Education that investigates serious misconduct by teachers in England, convened a professional conduct panel to examine the case.

The deception

At approximately 5am on 18 May 2023, Mr Wilson messaged the school: “I’m not going to be in school today. I’ve been up all night being sick and have got a really bad headache.” He maintained the pretence the following day, writing: “I’m still no better so won’t be in school today. Can’t keep any food or water down. I’ll keep you updated.”

In an email sent to the agency in February, Mr Wilson stated that he “pulled a sickie to go on (his) mates stag do”. He later told the TRA that he “accepted full responsibility” for his conduct, including “falsifying a sickness”.

The evidence that exposed the lie

Mr Wilson’s deception unravelled when an anonymous colleague alerted the school to photographs that had been posted online. At 5.23am on 18 May — just minutes after he had reported being too ill to work — another individual had posted an image bearing the caption: “Early start for stag do, few beers with the Portugal gaffer.” The photograph showed Mr Wilson at an airport clutching a pint of beer, directly contradicting his claim that he had been up all night vomiting.

When initially confronted, Mr Wilson insisted the photographs were from a previous trip abroad. He later acknowledged the truth to the TRA, admitting he “agreed to attend a stag do in Lisbon” and describing his actions as “a huge error of judgement”.

The tribunal found it proved that Mr Wilson was absent from school without a proper reason and that he reported to the school he was absent because of sickness when that was not the case. In its judgment, the panel stated: “In falsely reporting his sickness absence and providing an altered document during an investigation, Mr Wilson was intentionally misleading the school and concealing the truth.” The panel concluded his conduct lacked integrity, was dishonest, and risked bringing teaching into disrepute.

The passport cover-up

After an informal conversation with his headteacher, Mr Wilson removed pages from his passport in an attempt to eliminate evidence of his travel. He handed the passport to someone from the school in June 2023, and photocopies subsequently revealed that pages 9, 10, 27 and 28 were missing — the pages that would have contained entry and exit stamps confirming his presence in another country on the relevant dates.

Mr Wilson told the tribunal that the headteacher had “encouraged (him) to show something ‘to get them off my case'”. He said he was “ashamed” of what he had done. The tribunal also found it proved that he had removed pages from his passport.

Despite these findings, the panel ruled that imposing a prohibition order — which would have banned Mr Wilson from the classroom — would be disproportionate. Instead, it decided that publishing the tribunal’s findings constituted sufficient sanction.

The tribunal’s decision and reasons were published on 5 June 2026. Mr Wilson left Listerdale Junior Academy, located at Beech Avenue, Rotherham, S65 3HN, in 2023. It is not known whether he has since returned to teaching.