A former teacher at Ty Sign primary school, Risca, has denied he sat on a bean bag covering a pupil's face, a hearing was told.

Philip Meredith appeared before a professional conduct committee hearing of the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW) in Cardiff today.

UPDATE: 5.45pm

Philip Meredith later told the hearing he had put Pupil A into a wrap standing up to restrain him which ended up with them sitting upright on the bean bag. He said the restraint lasted three minutes.

He said: "Two pupils came back quite irate with one another. They were fighting about with the chairs.

"I sat with Pupil A on the bean bag which was the size of a double bed. He tried to get up and was aggressive towards another pupil. I sat next to him for a couple of minutes."

Mr Meredith is also alleged to have bullied Pupil A and on more than one occasion to have shouted or spoken loudly to Pupil A when it was not appropriate to do so. He also denies holding Pupil A on the floor with his face against a carpet.

He told the hearing in relation to that allegation that he had restrained Pupil A which resulted in a red mark on his arm. He said had put the pupil who was already on the floor in a wrap to calm him down.

Mr Meredith said the pupil's arm came out and as a result left him with a small red mark on his arm.

He said: "I was very careful with restraints. Not so much on the 18th when the unfortunate incident happened with the red mark- I felt terrible about this. "It wasn't a case that I had taken his arm and rubbed it on the carpet. He did that himself. I should have reacted quicker."

Mr Meredith denied the allegation that he held Pupil B on the floor with his face against the carpet and the allegation that he held Pupil B by the front of his shirt.

Ann Marie Croker, a teaching assistant at the school, said Mr Meredith had been 'picking' on pupil A and she was ‘very uncomfortable’ with Mr Meredith's behaviour towards pupil A. Ms Croker also said that Mr Meredith had used the thinking chair inappropriately when he sent Pupil A to sit on the chair on arrival to the school where he stayed for 10 to 15 minutes.

She said: “He was very emotional and upset as he couldn’t understand what he had done wrong.”

The teaching assistant of 12 years explained that the thinking chair was meant for children who misbehaved to reflect on their actions not as a form of punishment.

UPDATE: 1.31pm

A FORMER teacher at Ty Sign primary school, Risca, has denied he sat on a bean bag covering a pupil's face, a hearing was told.

Philip Meredith appeared before a professional conduct committee hearing of the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW) in Cardiff today.

Mr Meredith said: "I realise if that did happen today how awful it could be. I categorically tell you that never did happen."

He is also alleged to have bullied the pupil referred to as pupil A at Ty-Sign Primary School in 2011.

Ann Marie Croker, a teaching assistant at the school, said Mr Meredith had been 'picking' on pupil A as he treated him differently to other children.

She also said she was "'very uncomfortable" with Mr Meredith's behaviour towards pupil A.

She said: "Mr Meredith had a loud voice. I was concerned about his mannerisms towards pupil A. He invaded pupil A's personal space.

"He had very aggressive posture and went very close to his face and was speaking loudly. He was about the length of my elbow to my finger away from his face."

Ms Croker also said that Mr Meredith had used the 'thinking chair' [a chair pupils would have to sit on if they had misbehaved] inappropriately and said Pupil A had sat on the chair for 10 to 15 minutes.

She said: "Mr Meredith forced pupil A to sit on the chair straight away when he arriving to school. Mr Meredith commented 'I don't like the look of your face this morning'.

"Pupil A had not misbehaved as he'd only just arrived. He grabbed pupil A by his left hand and pushed him to sit on the chair."

The teaching assistant of 12 years explained that the thinking chair was meant for children who misbehaved to reflect on their actions not as a form of punishment.

Proceeding.