Air-spray teacher sacked

A Swansea primary school teacher who sprayed Asian children she said smelt of curry with air freshener was removed from her job yesterday.

The teacher was sacked from her job at Hafod Primary School in Swansea over "child protection concerns” at a disciplinary hearing of the General Teaching Council for Wales.

The teacher, Elizabeth Davies was accused of "for humiliating children and ‘showing disregard for young and vulnerable pupils”.

She told Bangladeshi children, who she said smelled of onions or curry, ‘There is a waft coming in from paradise’, then sprayed them with air freshener.

More than half the 260 children at Swansea’s Hafod Primary School, where the incidents took place, are from a Bangladeshi background.

Giving evidence against Davis, teaching assistant Mrs Islam told the hearing: ‘Mrs Davies would wash the children’s hands in a bowl containing pine disinfectant. She would spray air freshener almost daily.’

And being questioned about what harm air freshener could cause to young children, Hafod Headteacher Rachel Webb told the hearing: ‘It is demeaning, dangerous and embarrassing for a child. It could cause serious damage to a child’s health.’

The former teacher who was in charge of children aged 3 – 6 also sprayed and punished other pupils who she said smelled or wet themselves. 

Winsome-Grace Cornish