Godolphin & Latymer Deputy Head Had Sex with Pupil

Philip Culling was the school's Child Protection Officer

Philip Culling

June 15, 2025

The former deputy head of Godolphin and Latymer School has been banned for teaching for life after a regulatory panel was told he had a sexual relationship with a pupil.

Evidence from his victim was presented to the Teaching Regulatory Agency (TRA) about the matter. It was told that 53-year-old Philip Culling, who is a married father of three and was also the school’s Director of Music, began the relationship in 2013 with a girl who was described as vulnerable. He engaged in sexual acts with her in a cupboard in his office at the school. At the time he was the school’s child protection officer.

The school only became aware of the relationship after the victim had left the school in 2014 and mistakenly believed it did not have to report the matter to the police. It was later found that the girl was coerced into lying to the school about when the relationship began. Culling resigned quietly without any disciplinary action taken against him but returned to work as a teacher in 2016 at Holland Park Pre-Prep and Nursery. It is believed that the nursery was not informed about the reasons for his departure from his previous post.

The matter was only reported to the regulator in 2022 which then launched an investigation. Culling told his victim not to co-operate with the investigation, but she agreed to give evidence. It was found that Culling had acquired the girl’s phone number in 2010 from school records and had been exchanging texts with her, telling her to delete them when she had read them. He took her to a pub during the lunch hour for her birthday and declared her to be the ‘love of my life’ as he wished her luck for her A-levels in June 2013. He had sex with her for the first time in a public park after the school leaver’s reception. During the summer he would visit the girl’s home to have sex while her mother was out. The relationship continued into the following year by which time the girl had moved out of the family home into a flat. The panel noted that the evidence presented by the girl was pervaded with a sense of shame about what had happened.

Jo Palmer-Tweed, the TRA panel’s chairman, said, “Mr Culling was a child protection officer at the school and as such had appropriate training in safeguarding.

“Despite this, he took advantage of the position of trust he was in towards a vulnerable child for his own gratification.”

A spokesperson for the school said, "The TRA's report reveals a shocking and deeply disturbing pattern of past behaviour which we unequivocally condemn. We fully support the TRA's decision to bar Philip Culling from working in the teaching profession ever again.”