A pupil sat watching their teacher swig from what looked like a water bottle, music blaring from a laptop at the front of the room, and the lesson had not even properly started yet. By the time it ended, students at Ysgol Bro Caereinion in Welshpool, Wales, had been called "little s***s," told to dance the Macarena, and left to describe the experience to investigators as feeling like a "mini-rave with loud music, shouting, and dancing."

Alice Ashton, 31, taught Welsh second language and personal and social education at the school. The incident that ended her teaching career took place during a single lesson, but the pattern behind it stretched back further than that one afternoon.

What Happened Inside That Classroom

Students told the Education Workforce Council that Ashton had been drinking from an Evian water bottle that smelled like alcohol mixed with orange squash. The music came on. The atmosphere shifted. Pupils described her urging the class to get up and dance the Macarena while she drank. One student said she was "acting crazy" and that her walking was wobbly. Another described the room spiralling out of control.

Ashton told one boy to "sit the f*** down." She used the words "s***" and "f***" during the lesson and referred to the class collectively as "little s***s." Staff who encountered her shortly after the lesson noted she was stumbling and slurring her speech outside the school building.

It was a parent's concern that first prompted the formal investigation, after pupils came home and reported what they had witnessed.

The Lie That CCTV Unravelled

When Ashton was reviewed internally by the school, she told investigators she had not sung to pupils during the lesson and had not sworn. The Education Workforce Council panel found both of those claims to be false. CCTV footage from the school directly contradicted her account, according to the panel, and formed a key part of the evidence used to determine that her version of events could not be trusted.

The footage did not just contradict her denial of swearing. It undermined the entire framework of her defence, leaving the panel to piece together the truth from pupil testimony, staff observations, and recorded evidence rather than anything Ashton herself was willing to acknowledge.

A Pattern the School Already Knew About

This was not the first time concerns had been raised. Ashton had previously been warned about arriving at work smelling of alcohol. Months before the classroom incident, she had been convicted of driving with alcohol over the legal limit and sentenced to a 12-month community order, 200 hours of unpaid work, and a 28-month driving disqualification.

The EWC panel found it more likely than not that Ashton was under the influence and actively drinking during the lesson, based on the combined weight of pupil testimony, staff observations, the prior warnings, and the drink-driving conviction that had come just months earlier.

Struck Off, With No Engagement and No Apology

The EWC hearing ran remotely over three days. Ashton did not engage with the process. She sent a single email to the council stating that she now lived in England and no longer worked as a teacher. The committee chair noted she had shown no remorse, offered no apology, and demonstrated no insight into what her behaviour had meant for the students in that classroom.

Two allegations were found not proven: that she had shown a middle finger to a pupil, and that she had physically prevented two boys from leaving the classroom. Every other allegation was found proven.

Ashton has been struck off the teaching register in Wales indefinitely. She is eligible to reapply in two years.