Epsom teacher lied to pupils that she had been shot in war zone

A maths teacher has been banned from the profession after lying to pupils that she was in the Australian army, at one point pretending she had been shot while in a war zone. Alexandra Slay, a head of year at Epsom and Ewell High School in 2023, told pupils she would take trips to war zones, on one occasion texting a pupil pretending to be another soldier and claiming she had been seriously injured. The 34-year-old, who worked at the school since December 2016, also sent letters to pupils to be opened "in case of worst case scenario" which read "If I am gone in person... know that I was doing a brave thing". A disciplinary hearing this month banned Slay from teaching indefinitely. A Teaching Regulation Agency report released on Wednesday told how Slay told multiple pupils she was "mentoring" them, and would send them messages including "personal diary entries". One pupil interviewed said Slay started emailing them during the Covid pandemic and would send musical recommendations, pictures of hot chocolates and dogs, among other messages. During one of Slay's fabricated trips between July and August 2023, Slay texted one pupil from her mobile phone pretending to be "Lt Col D Blackburn