A primary school teacher “pulled a sickie” so he could go join his mates on a Portugal stag do and tried to cover his tracks by ripping pages from his passport, a tribunal has found.
Joe Wilson told his boss at Listerdale Junior Academy in Rotherham, South Yorkshire that he wouldn’t be coming in to school as he was “up all night being sick” on May 18, 2023. The next day, the Year 6 teacher claimed he was unable to “keep any food or water down”, and took a second day off while promising to keep his superiors updated.
Mr Wilson would later admit that those two sick days he took were actually a ruse he put together to be able to attend a pal’s stag-do in Lisbon, one he tried to embellish by tearing out pages from his passport that showed he had jetted off to the Portuguese capital.
View 3 ImagesMr Wilson was a teacher at Listerdale Junior Academy(Image: Google Maps)
A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard that Mr Wilson went on the secret holiday between Thursday, May 18, and Friday, May 19, 2023. He started the ruse at around 5am on the former day, telling his boss: “I’m not going to be in school today. I’ve been up all night being sick and have got a really bad headache.”
He said in a follow-up message the next day: “I’m still no better so won’t be in school today. Can’t keep any food or water down. I’ll keep you updated.”
The panel heard that Mr Wilson was rumbled by an anonymous member of staff, who flagged photos that showed the teacher in an airport clutching a pint of beer. One photograph, posted by a second person at 5.23am on the morning of Mr Wilson’s flight, went online with the caption: “Early start for… stag do, few beers with the Portugal gaffer”.
The teacher had originally claimed the photos came from a previous trip, but later admitted to the TRA in October 2025 that he “agreed to attend a stag do in Lisbon”.
He added that he “made a huge error of judgement but (felt) the situation at the time influenced (him) to make this poor decision” and that he “accepted full responsibility” for his actions, including “falsifying a sickness”. In February, he emailed the agency stating he “pulled a sickie to go on (his) mates stag do”. Mr Wilson also removed pages from his passport to hide that he had been away.
View 3 ImagesMr Wilson was not barred from teaching following the tribunal’s findings(Image: Google Maps)
He told the TRA he “made a huge mistake of taking out a page of (his) passport” after “an informal chat with (his) headteacher” as she “encouraged (him) to show something ‘to get them off my case'”.
He also said he was “ashamed” of his actions. An investigation report detailed Mr Wilson handed his passport to someone from the school in June 2023 and photocopies of the document revealed pages 9, 10, 27 and 28 were missing, according to the tribunal. The panel found it proved that Mr Wilson was absent from school without a proper reason, reported to the school that he was absent because of sickness when that was not the case and removed pages from his passport which would have contained stamps showing he was out of the country on the dates in question.
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The panel said in its judgement: “In falsely reporting his sickness absence and providing an altered document during an investigation, Mr Wilson was intentionally misleading the school and concealing the truth.
“The panel considered that Mr Wilson’s behaviour fell below the ethical standards expected of a teacher and was contrary to the manner in which the profession professes to serve the public.” It also found his conduct lacked integrity, was dishonest, and that his actions may bring the profession into disrepute.
But it was decided that a prohibition order, which would see Mr Wilson banned from teaching, was not proportionate but that publication of the findings would be enough.