A Port Hope elementary school teacher has pleaded guilty to several child exploitation offences involving her former students.

Kelly-Anne Jennings, 41, appeared in a Peterborough courtroom Thursday, where she admitted to six charges, including child luring, making child pornography, and distributing explicit material to a minor.

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The charges stem from online communication Jennings had with former Grade 8 students in 2023. The court heard that the exchanges took place over Snapchat and became increasingly inappropriate.

Parents of the victims were present in court as Ontario Court Justice Nathan N. Baker accepted Jennings’ guilty pleas. The Crown confirmed that additional charges, including one count of sexual assault, will be stayed.

A court-ordered publication ban protects the identities of the victims and any details that could identify the school where Jennings taught.

Stop Classroom Grooming:

Young children in elementary school are being asked to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity for a school survey in Ontario.https://t.co/CDi95ZBkYD.

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) June 16, 2023

In a victim impact statement read aloud in court, one parent said her son had trusted Jennings as a caring mentor. “My son looked up to her as a second mother,” the statement read. “Her behaviour was manipulative and deeply harmful.”

Jennings was first charged in August 2024 with one count each of sexual assault and sexual interference following a police investigation into reports of inappropriate contact during a school trip.

After more victims came forward, Jennings charges were upgraded to include three counts of distributing sexually explicit material to a person under 16 years of age, seven counts of luring a person under 16 years of age by means of telecommunication, two counts of accessing child pornography, two counts of invitation to sexual touching of a person under 16 years of age, and two counts of making, printing, publishing, or possessing for the purpose of publication any child pornography.

The biological male who raped a 3-month-old baby before switching genders has a violent history filled with pedophilic tendencies and self-cannibalism.https://t.co/SESoiIb7qp

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) February 16, 2023

She was again arrested shortly thereafter, on October 25, 2024, for failing to comply with her release order, according to a press release from Port Hope Police.

“One of [her] conditions was to not attend a public park or public swimming area where persons under the age of 16 years are present, or a daycare centre, school ground, or community centre,” it reads.

The court learned that Jennings had consumed alcohol before she started sending progressively more explicit photos, including videos of herself masturbating, to her students via Snapchat. She also solicited and obtained nude images of the boys.

Thanks to Canada’s increasingly lenient laws, Jennings remains out on bail while awaiting sentencing on November 27. 

Canada is grappling with an escalating crime wave, and the latest case out of Welland, Ontario, is every parent’s worst fear.

FULL REPORT by @TamaraUgo: https://t.co/ukGMSbant5

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) September 2, 2025

The situation follows a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision that struck down mandatory one-year minimum jail terms for possessing or accessing child pornography. In a narrow 5–4 ruling, the court found the penalties unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing they could lead to disproportionate sentences — such as an 18-year-old receiving an unsolicited image from a 17-year-old.