A supply teacher has been barred from the profession after telling an African pupil that, when he was younger, the child would not have been permitted to attend the classroom.
Anton Van Der Watt, 66, also referred to two Chinese pupils as “ching” and “chong” and made a series of violent threats. In one incident, he allegedly told a pupil he would “rip their vocal chords out and feed them to the lions”.
On his first day covering lessons at a Cheshire school, he reportedly threatened to identify pupils who needed to be hit in the register. He also told another child: “Do you want to go home on crutches? I will break your leg.”
Van Der Watt was sent home early on April 24, after teaching only three lessons at Brine Leas School in Nantwich. Pupils had raised concerns with senior staff.
He has now been prohibited from teaching indefinitely after being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
A teaching tribunal concluded that his behaviour had “fallen significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”.
The panel said he had failed to maintain proper professional boundaries with pupils and had used language that was both threatening and discriminatory.
Anton Van Der Watt was sent home early on April 24 after teaching just three lessons at Brine Leas School in Nantwich, following complaints from pupils.
The tribunal heard that Van Der Watt worked as a supply teacher through the Simply Education agency from January 2019 until April 24, 2025.
On April 24, 2025, he arrived at Brine Leas School, a secondary school in Nantwich attended by about 1,400 pupils.
As a result, the tribunal heard, he was “well-versed” in supply teaching and experienced in managing poor behaviour among pupils.
However, after pupils complained about his conduct that day, the school sent Van Der Watt home before the end of his assignment.
The tribunal heard that each pupil was then asked to submit a handwritten statement describing what they said had taken place.
The accounts contained multiple allegations against Van Der Watt, including claims of racist language, threats and physical violence.
One pupil said he was “in shock” after Van Der Watt allegedly put his fist against Pupil A’s neck and “dug me into the chair”.
The pupil said: “I did not know what to do. He then pinched me in the neck. It did hurt.
“We were being pressed into the chair. I was having to lean forward as he pinched my neck with his fingers.”
Pupil A said the incident left a red mark on his neck where Van Der Watt’s fingers had been.
In an email responding to the allegations, Van Der Watt confirmed that “the incident took place as described”, although he said he was unaware that it had left a red mark on the pupil’s neck.
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Van Der Watt said he had been discussing his background when pupils asked him to demonstrate how to control boys who behaved aggressively.
Two other pupils made similar accusations of physical violence against the supply teacher, including that he ‘punched’ one student on the shoulder.
He asked the same student: ‘Do you want to go home on crutches? I will break your leg.’
He continued to ‘demonstrate aggressive behaviour’ by ‘pressing his fists’ into the desks and hitting the desks with a ruler.
He threatened the class, telling them to ‘shut up’ and that he would ‘rip their vocal chords out and feed them to the lions’.
Mr Van Der Watt also kept a ‘register of who needed to be hit’ and ‘verbally abused two students of Chinese origin’ by calling them ‘ching’ and ‘chong’ on the register.
He told these students ‘we know what your real name is’.
He mentioned that ‘people of colour would not be allowed on trains and buses’ when he was younger, and even told a pupil of African origin that ‘when he was younger, he would not have been allowed in his classroom’.
The teacher was also accused of banging a wooden ruler on desks and making aggressive gestures towards children.
He was later reported to Cheshire Police but no action was taken, the Teaching Regulation Agency hearing was told.
In an email to the supply agency he apologised for much of his behaviour. He said: ‘I am very disappointed and apologetic about the whole incident and feel that I let myself and the profession down by allowing the boys to convince me into demonstrating in a light-hearted manner a way to defuse a potential dangerous situation by using relationships, trust and humour.
‘I definitely had no intention to harm a young person in any shape or form and want my sincere apology be communicated with the student involved.’
Each of these allegations, which were found proven by the professional tribunal, occurred on the same day – which was Mr Van Der Watt’s first day at the school.
Panel chair Sue Davies told the hearing: ‘Whilst the events occurred on one day in April 2025, such events took place over three separate periods.
‘They also involved inappropriate physical contact, verbally aggressive behaviour, and discriminatory language.
‘The panel considered that public confidence in the profession could be seriously weakened if conduct such as that found against Mr Van Der Watt were not treated with the utmost seriousness when regulating the conduct of the profession.’
Mr Van Der Watt, who was said to be genuinely remorseful, cannot apply to teach again until October 2029.
Signing off on the ban, civil servant Marc Cavey said: ‘I am particularly mindful of the finding of a teacher using threatening and discriminatory language towards pupils in this case and the negative impact that such a finding is likely to have on the reputation of the profession.’