Latin teacher at an elite £20,000-a-year London prep school was found propped up against a wall and too drunk to teach by colleagues

• Claire Bourne was discovered propped up against a wall at Newton Prep School
• Ms Bourne was taken to hospital where her blood alcohol reading was 300mg/dl
• She was sacked but spared a classroom ban by The Teaching Regulation Agency

A Latin teacher at a posh £20,000-a-year London prep school was found by colleagues too drunk to teach.

Claire Bourne was discovered propped up against a wall at Newton Prep School, Battersea, where fees near £7,000 a term.

Unable to speak and struggling for breath, the classics teacher was taken to casualty by the school’s nurse – and found to have a blood alcohol reading of 300mg/dl.

The legal drink-drive limit is 80mg/dl.

Claire Bourne was discovered propped up against a wall at Newton Prep School, Battersea, (pictured) where fees near £7,000 a term

Bourne, who taught pupils in Years 6 to 8, was sacked after she admitted being drunk on school property in May 2018.

She was hauled before a misconduct hearing for failing to maintain ‘high standards of behaviour’.

The Teaching Regulation Agency, sitting in Coventry, West Midlands, heard Bourne was ‘plainly unfit for duty.’

Amber Le Bon, the daughter of Duran Duran lead singer, Simon Le Bon, attended the prep school as a child

Panel chair Dr Melvyn Kershaw said: ‘Mrs Bourne was found by colleagues leaning against a wall during the course of lesson hours.

‘Colleagues discovered that Mrs Bourne was unwell and exhibited the following symptoms.

‘She was unable to speak coherently, she was unsteady on her feet, she was unable to stand without being supported and she was unable to breathe properly.

‘As a consequence, the school’s nurse drove Mrs Bourne to the Accident and Emergency department at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

‘At approximately 2:30pm, the attending doctor, Dr McNamara, confirmed that Mrs Bourne’s blood alcohol level was above 300mg/dl.

‘Her conduct amounted to a potential safeguarding issue and she had a professional responsibility as someone in charge of learners.’

Bourne was spared a classroom ban despite committing unacceptable professional conduct

The hearing was told that Bourne ‘fully accepted’ being drunk at school but blamed work and family pressures.

She was spared a classroom ban despite committing unacceptable professional conduct and conduct capable of bringing the profession into disrepute.

The panel ruled that publication of its adverse findings was a suitable punishment.

Dr Kershaw said: ‘In the absence of any clear evidence to the contrary, the panel concluded that Mrs Bourne had a previous good history. She had a long career in education and an otherwise unblemished record.

‘In all the circumstances, the panel concluded that the nature and severity of the behaviour was not at the serious end of the spectrum given the evidence that this was an isolated, one-off episode.

‘There was no evidence that children were affected or were aware of the involvement of alcohol.’

The school has attracted the children of several well-known figures including Bob Geldof and Amber Le Bon, the daughter of Duran Duran lead singer, Simon Le Bon. 

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