Two teachers who encouraged a fight between pupils at a school in Dursley have been banned from the classroom .

Richard Lewis, 47, and Adrian Ferguson, 56, were “smiling and laughing” after watching the pupils throw punches at each other during a heated incident in October 2019 at Peak Academy, a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard.

During the 23-second altercation one of the pupils punched the other in the head nine or 10 times before there was any intervention, according to a police interview at the time, and the panel found it was only through “good fortune” that no injuries were sustained.

The altercation broke out at Peak Academy in Dursley (GV)

The panel heard that the two pupils were separated following a “flare up”, with ‘Pupil A’ taken to a purpose-built sensory room known as “basecamp” while ‘Pupil B’ was told to take a walk to “help him regulate”.…