Girl's housemaster at £48,685-a-year private school in Bath is sacked for 'inappropriate online contact' with former pupils
Xavier Lord was dismissed from Prior Park College, Bath, where full boarding fees are £48,685 a year, after his behaviour was reported to staff by current pupils.
Published: 12:28 GMT, 4 January 2026 | Updated: 19:00 GMT, 4 January 2026
A trusted girls’ housemaster at a leading private school has been sacked for ‘inappropriate online contact’ with former pupils.
Xavier Lord was dismissed from Prior Park College, Bath, where full boarding fees are £48,685 a year, after his behaviour was reported to staff by current pupils.
Shocked parents received a letter from headmaster Ben Horan in which he spoke of ‘hard revelations’ but insisted there was ‘no suggestion of any physical harm towards any children or young people'.
He went on: ‘What there had been, and what Mr Lord has admitted to, was inappropriate contact, online, with some former students through social media.’
The science teacher was one of the first men to head an all-girls’ house at the co-ed school, motto: God our guide, God our light.
He was sacked following a month-long investigation and disciplinary process involving the police and local authority safeguarding team.
Mr Horan told parents police ‘felt that the issues raised did not meet their high threshold for action’ while ‘the local authority passed over responsibility for further investigation to the school’.
He added: ‘Throughout these four weeks, Mr Lord was suspended from his position at the school and from our school site.
Xavier Lord shaved his shoulder length hair into a mohawk for charity at the behest of polled students
The school declined to elaborate on the nature of Mr Lord's contact with the former pupil, but said that he did not plan to appeal the dismissal decision
The private school costs £48,685 a year to attend has very special grounds - host to one of four Palladian bridges in the world
‘Any young people directly affected were in regular communication and contact with our safeguarding team; their parents were all informed.’
Prior Park describes itself as ‘a Christian school in the Catholic tradition’ and caters for 535 pupils aged 11-19.
Alumni include the former leader of the Catholic Church in England, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, composer Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Prince Harry’s former girlfriend, actress Cressida Bonas.
Mr Lord was jointly responsible for the welfare of some 70 girls staying at the school’s separate St Mary’s boarding house, a Grade II listed former priory. He was also head of Fielding House.
He appears to have been a popular teacher who engaged with the lighter side of school life. In June last year his distinctive shoulder-length hair was replaced with a ‘Mohican’ to raise money for charity – the result of a poll among pupils as to which style he should adopt.
Prior Park was given a glowing assessment for pastoral care in its latest Independent Schools Inspectorate report.