Woman teacher had sex with girl pupil after trip to theatre

A DRAMA teacher was struck off yesterday after she took a pupil to see a West End musical then had sex with her in a hotel.

Married Sarah Barton also had sex with the girl in her car and in fields, a misconduct panel was told.

The 36-year-old, who was head of drama and dance at a Catholic girls’ school in Essex, had been for dinner at the pupil’s home and to her birthday party as well.

She told friends of the relationship, showing one a photo of her kissing the pupil.

Their relationship began when the teacher rang the girl to organise play rehearsals and Mrs Barton, who admitted her behaviour amounted to unacceptable professional conduct, was given permission by the pupil’s parents to drive their daughter home. The relationship became sexual and during one half-term holiday Mrs Barton took the girl, referred to only as Pupil A, to London to see the musical Matilda in the West End before booking a hotel room where they had sex.

Other teachers became suspicious of the length of time the pair were spending alone in Mrs Barton’s office.

One said: ‘Sarah informed me that she and Pupil A contacted each other using WhatsApp messaging rather than the iPhone message, as she said it was not traceable.’

The National College for Teaching and Leadership panel in Coventry found she had ‘consistently and persistently failed to maintain appropriate boundaries’.

The panel said the testimony of a male colleague gave them no doubt Mrs Barton had been a ‘well-respected member of staff’. Chairman Mark Tweedle said: ‘Even with the full knowledge of the allegations and her admissions, he would be quite content for Mrs Barton to teach his daughter.’

The panel accepted Mrs Barton, who worked at the school from 2007 to July last year, had suffered an undisclosed personal ‘trauma’ that was a factor.

But while Mr Tweedle said the behaviour was ‘out of character’, the panel chairman added: ‘This was a sexually motivated relationship that continued despite warnings from her colleagues. It was not a one- off spontaneous event.’

The hearing took place last month but the decision to ban Mrs Barton from teaching for at least five years was taken yesterday.