(1981–). “Mrs. Robinson”, a Merchiston biology teacher and—later—the school’s Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE) head, deputy Child Protection Officer, and ultimately the school’s Child Protection Officer and child protection liaison to the Board of Governors, worked at Merchiston Castle School from 2008–2015, during which she was 26–34 years old.
She sent explicit videos of herself to a pupil and had sex with five senior pupils during her last year at the school, according to headmaster Andrew Hunter’s witness testimony.
In her written SCAI Witness Statement and her read-in oral testimony, she is referred to as “Nicola (DFX)” but in the final case study report on Merchiston, her designation appears to have been changed to “Laura (RCQ)” (p80) but her role at the school and events described in both documents, as well as in media coverage, completely undo the attempt at obfuscation.
On 30 May 2017, at a General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) “Fitness to Teach” panel—where she was only identified as “Respondent A”—she accepted a “removal with consent” order, admitting to the charges against her and agreeing to be struck off the GTCS’s Scottish teaching registry.
Survivor groups were furious at the secrecy, particularly as she had gone on to teach at a school in England.
Police Scotland conducted an investigation and referred the case to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), who declined to prosecute.
Abuse at a boarding school for boys in Edinburgh was “normalised for generations”, the chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has said. Lady Smith published her findings on Wednesday relating to the provision of residential care for children at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.
Evidence was heard from Merchiston assistant masters Maria Victoria Prini-Garcia and “Robert (QZL)”, and the read-in evidence of Merchiston assistant master “Nicola (DFX)”—AKA “Laura (RCQ)” in the SCAI’s final report—and headmaster David Spawforth.
A teacher who had sex with boys at a top boarding school should have been publicly named as her misconduct represented the ‘highest end of severity’—according to a lawyer for the profession’s regulator.
A teacher at a £29,000 Scottish residential school has agreed to be struck off after having sex with pupils on the premises. But Scotland’s teaching watchdog has been criticised over the case after it agreed to keep the name of the teacher and school secret.
The head teacher of £29,000-a-year Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh apologised as his former colleague was struck off for romps with teenagers.
A teacher at one of Scotland’s leading private schools has been struck off after she admitted having sex with teenage pupils. The unnamed woman said she had had repeated liaisons with a number of boys at the school in Edinburgh between 2014 and 2015. The pupils involved were aged between 17 and 18.
A second charge stated that: ‘During the 2014/15 session, you did on school premises, repeatedly engage in sexual intercourse with male pupils who were then aged between 17 and 18 years. ‘During February 2015, you did repeatedly send by electronic means, videos of a sexually explicit nature to a male pupil. It was added that the teacher also communicated with pupils over a Facebook group created by pupils called Organised Bullying.
The 34-year-old woman was thrown out of the profession following a police probe at all-boys Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. Fees for boarders can run to £29,000 a year and famous former pupils include Scotland rugby star Sam Hidalgo-Clyne.
