Former Harrogate headteacher banned indefinitely from teaching

A former Harrogate headteacher has been banned from teaching indefinitely after being convicted of making indecent images of children.

In August 2022, Matthew Shillito was found guilty of making 20 Category B images and 3,829 Category C images between December 3, 2012 and December 31, 2015.

Shillito was appointed headteacher of Western Primary School in 2019. He was previously headteacher across the Goldsborough Sicklinghall Federation of schools. 



None of the offences related to his employment.

Now, Shillito has been banned from teaching after a Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) professional conduct hearing.

In a decision notice published this week, David Oatley, of the TRA, said the move was made to “maintain public confidence” and that it was “proportionate and in the public interest”.

The hearing took place last month, but Shillito did not attend proceedings. However, he tried unsuccessfully to apply for the hearing to be heard in private - which the panel refused.

The decision means the former headteacher will be banned from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

He will also be unable to apply to restart his teaching career.

Mr Oatley added in his decision notice:

Shillito will however be able to appeal the decision to the High Court within 28 days.

The move comes after the former headteacher was spared jail in 2022 for making over 3,000 indecent images of children.

Shillito was given an 18-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years and made subject to a five-year sexual-harm prevention order.

At the time, District Judge Lower, who sentenced Shillito at York Magistrates Court, said the former teacher had a “corrosive, addictive interest” in viewing indecent images of children.