A Timaru Girls' High School teacher had a sexual relationship with two students.
In his first year of teaching, Sam Bocock had sexual relationships with two students at the same time.
And although the 22-year-old admitted his relationships to the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal, he said his offending was “at the lower level on the scale of seriousness”, after he met one student at a bar and another on Tinder.
However, in the tribunal’s recent decision it said it was clear Bocock knew what he was doing was wrong and “knew the potential consequences for his registration and status as a teacher”, as he tried to hide the relationships.
His stint at teaching lasted just 19 months after registering as a teacher in January 2021 and quitting the profession in July 2022, with the tribunal cancelling his registration and censuring him for serious misconduct.
Before his first term teaching Māori at Timaru Girls’ High School, he entered a sexual relationship with a student at the school. While this relationship was ongoing, he entered another sexual relationship with another girl at the school.
Before the start of Term 1 in 2021, Bocock matched with another student on Tinder.
The student went to school but her Tinder profile stated her age was 18.
The pair communicated on the app for a few weeks and when Term 1 started, Bocock realised she was a student at the school, but they agreed to keep talking to each other.
The student was not in his classes but they did occasionally see each other at school and at school events.
In March 2021 they began to meet outside school hours and had sexual intercourse for the first time. Bocock had also gone to the student’s house when her parents were away.
The relationship involved regular sexual intercourse and the relationship continued to develop, although it was secretive.
The student would go to Bocock’s house but would be hidden from his flatmates.
This student was given an alias by Bocock: he would call her “Alex”. Throughout their relationship, Bocock and the student communicated on Snapchat.
They used the display names “Michael” and “Alex”, with Bocock telling the student it was so he would not get in trouble. She was also told to delete their conversations.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, Bocock and the student met near her house and a person from the school saw them together.
When school returned, the principal asked the student about her and Bocock walking together, to which she responded: “Oh it was just a coincidence. I was going for my daily walks and then he just happened to join the track like at like nearly the same time.”
During the relationship, Bocock would call the student derogatory names and would say things like, “if you don’t do this this way, then it’s going to impact me”, the decision said.
Bocock would remind the student that if she said or did something wrong and accidentally told people she was dating a teacher, he would be the one to get in trouble.
The relationship contributed to the student’s anxiety and led to her engaging in therapy and taking medication.
Once she left the school they went on a trip out of town, during which Bocock asked her to formally start dating.
One night the student was away with her friends and Bocock told her she was not allowed to wear her outfit out to town or show off parts of her body, the decision said.
The student then rejoined Tinder and Bocock sent a screenshot of her profile to her and called her a “slut”. They broke up soon afterwards.
A few months later the student contacted Bocock and he told her he had slept with another student but this was after they had broken up. However, this was not true.
At the same time he was seeing the first student, he met another teen on a night out at a bar in Timaru.
The decision said they began messaging each other and Bocock was unaware she was a student until she later told him.
Bocock then became concerned this would put his job at risk and told her not to contact him. After a short period without contact, the student messaged Bocock and their relationship resumed.
It became sexual shortly afterwards, the decision said.
The relationship continued for about a year, by which time the student was no longer at the school. There were periods of no contact between the pair out of fear for Bocock’s job.
During their relationship, the student would visit Bocock at his house at night and they would go for drives together. Sometimes she stayed the night.
At school, they did not interact. She had no classes with Bocock and had no involvement with him at school.
Bocock’s flatmate was also a teacher, at another school, and they lived in a property on the school grounds.
The decision said the student went by the alias “Bella” and Bocock told his flatmate that “Bella” was a former student on a gap year. Sometimes Bocock would refer to the student as “the actress”.
Before the Covid-19 lockdown in 2021, the student would visit Bocock’s house at night after his flatmate had gone to sleep, or when Bocock was home alone.
But on an evening during the lockdown, Bocock invited the student to the house for drinks with his flatmate. The three of them drank alcohol together.
The student was introduced as “Bella”.
Once she finished school, the student moved to another town but the relationship continued.
In February 2022, a former Timaru Girls’ High teacher moved in with Bocock and his flatmate.
When the teacher moved in, the student would avoid seeing her. Bocock made sure to move the student quickly and quietly through the house to prevent her from being seen.
On July 3, 2022, the teacher showed the flatmate a photo taken of herself with students from the school, while she was on placement at the school a few years earlier. The student was in the photo.
As a result, the flatmates realised “Bella” had been a student at the school while Bocock was a teacher there. They confronted Bocock about the relationship.
In statements to the tribunal, the first student said the pressure and stress that she felt had negatively impacted her relationship with her mother and her school friends, and disrupted her engagement with her exams.
The second student said Bocock’s actions had not had a negative impact on her.
The tribunal accepted Bocock’s submission that there is no evidence that he met either student as a result of his position as a teacher.
“Bocock’s behaviour involved serious and significant breaches of expected professional standards, and the tribunal was in no doubt that his conduct warrants discipline.”
But a submission by Bocock to the tribunal said “environmental factors” that contributed to Bocock’s relationships no longer existed.
“He is older and has learnt his lesson and he is in a stable relationship,” the decision said.
“To cancel Mr Bocock’s registration would be to remove someone who could yet be a great teacher from the profession, for misconduct that started before he had commenced teaching.
“Cancellation is unnecessary to protect the teaching profession and learners and would reflect negatively on the profession if effective rehabilitation and guidance cannot be provided to Mr Bocock. A range of lesser penalties would ensure that learners and the profession are well protected from him.”
Timaru Girls’ High principal Deb Hales said in a letter to families on Friday afternoon that the school acknowledged the actions of those in the community who came forward with concerns.
“It was their vigilance that alerted the school to the possibility of inappropriate contact outside of school.
“The school took immediate steps when alerted to these concerns, including filing a Mandatory Report with the Teaching Council.
“As a school we have a deep sense of responsibility to our students and families, and we are categorical that there is no greater priority for us than our young people.”
Bocock resigned from the school in July 2022, removed himself from the teaching profession and had since moved away from Timaru.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.