Teacher Nicholas Leigh cleared of having sexual relationship with year 12 student

A Queensland secondary school teacher who was referred to the state’s corruption watchdog by the education department has been cleared of having sex with a Year 12 student.

The teacher was cleared of having a relationship with a student.

A Queensland secondary school teacher who was referred to the state’s corruption watchdog by the education department has been cleared of having sex with a Year 12 student and living with her while he was working for the department.

In a decision handed down by Peter O’Neill, a commissioner with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission on Tuesday, he ruled that a disciplinary finding that teacher Nicholas Leigh had a sexual relationship with the unnamed Year 12 student, and lived with her, was “not substantiated”.

But Mr O’Neill confirmed disciplinary findings that Leigh had made inappropriate remarks to students in maths class in 2021 and via social media between October 1, 2020 and June 16, 2023.

The investigation was triggered by a complaint by two students reporting to a former principal of the school in 2022 that “a couple of other ex-students had told them” Leigh was living with a Year 12 student and sleeping with her.

One of the students told the ex-principal that the Year 12 student was staying at Leigh’s house because she “was continuously kicked out of home”.

The tribunal heard that one student claimed that Leigh had a relationship with the Year 12 student “all through Grades 10 to 12 but then changed that version to Grades 11 and 12”.

Another student also claimed that the Year 12 student was “living with” Leigh “for the whole of Grades 11 and 12”.

Nicholas Leigh was cleared over claims he had a sexual relationship with a student.

When Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) investigators interviewed students as part of their investigation one student told them “it was really just everywhere” about the rumour Leigh was having sex with a student.

Another student told investigators that the sex rumour “kind of swarmed through the school”.

Another student - a close relative of the student alleged to have had sex with Leigh - told the investigator that the student was “still attending school” when they had sex with Leigh.

“The more salacious and notorious a rumour or allegation is, the greater the likelihood of it being oft repeated, and further embellished with the repeated telling,” Mr O’Neill wrote in his decision.

“This also appears to be the case with the allegations regarding former Student XY and the Appellant.”

He concluded that the purported “evidence” against Leigh was unreliable because the two people who were the original, or early, sources of the sex claims against Leigh were never interviewed by either QCT or the department

Mr O’Neill found that the interviews with “witnesses” were mere hearsay and that the allegations against him were so serious that if proven, could kill his career, see him sacked and found guilty of “serious moral wrongdoing”, as well as criminal charges.

The disciplinary findings were made by the state’s education department employee relations executive director Rachel Borger on October 18 last year.

Ms Borger told Mr Leigh in a letter in October last year that he was guilty of misconduct in relation to the allegation of having sex with the Year 12 student and the allegation of inappropriate social media contact with students, as well as breaching the code of conduct in relation to “inappropriate communication with students” during maths class.

Students told department investigators that Leigh had viewed their Instagram stories.

Leigh was suspended from his job while the department investigated the allegations on January 30, 2023.

The name of the school and the students involved has been suppressed from publication.

The department is yet to take disciplinary action against Mr Leigh.

In his appeal notice to the QIRC, Leigh questioned why, if the allegation of him having sex with the Year 12 student and living with her was “considered to be true by the education department”, he had not been referred to Queensland Police Service for investigation “into a criminal offence”.

The department responded that it had referred Leigh to the Crime and Corruption Commission and that public servants such as teachers can be found guilty of misconduct “without having committed a criminal offence”.

Mr O’Neill has sent the case back to the education department to issue a fresh disciplinary finding, after concluding that the decision to find that Leigh had sex with the student and lived with her was not fair and reasonable.

Originally published as Teacher Nicholas Leigh cleared of having sexual relationship with year 12 student