Headmaster, 47, held over former pupil ‘pregnant with his child’
ONE of Britain’s top headmasters has been arrested after he allegedly began a relationship with a former pupil now said to be pregnant with his child.
Cambridge-educated Sean Heslop, 47, was questioned on suspicion of abusing his position of trust after claims about the affair came to light last month.
Mr Heslop, who separated from his wife last year, has been suspended from his job as executive principal of two academy schools in Kent.
But a family member claimed he was ‘the happiest he’s ever been’ as he was looking forward to becoming a father this summer.
The former pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, became pregnant at the end of last year after leaving school and starting at a London university.
The woman, who is now 18, described herself as a ‘mummy-to-be’ on one social media page and posted online a picture of the threemonth scan of her unborn child.
She wrote that she was ‘in a loving relationship’ and had a lot of support, but said some people were quick to judge her because she was a pregnant teenager.
The ex-pupil recounted in a blog how her former headmaster came to visit her at university after she began her degree last September.
Mr Heslop split from his Canadian wife Celine, 44, in the autumn after nine years of marriage. He has not been seen at the £850,000 home they shared in Battersea, south-west London, for several months.
‘Sean is the happiest he’s ever been because he’s going to be a dad. They are really excited and he is so happy to be a father,’ an unnamed relative told The Sun.
Mr Heslop was educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, before completing a teachertraining course at King’s College London.
He worked as an English teacher at a top grammar school in Barnet, north London, before becoming head of English at another leading grammar in Orpington, south London.
In 2004, he was appointed head of Tiffin boys’ grammar in Kingston, south-west London.
Under his leadership it was one of the first schools in the country to be rated ‘outstanding’ in every category by Ofsted.
While there he was criticised by some parents for dramatically reducing the amount of home- work given to pupils, so they would have more time to develop their own interests.
There was also controversy after it emerged the school had spent all of its £800,000 reserves in four years, plunging it into financial crisis.
In 2009, he took over the running of the Folkestone Academy in Kent on a salary estimated at more than £100,000 a year. He was also given responsibility for the Marlowe Academy in nearby Ramsgate at the end of 2013.
Parents of pupils at the two schools were informed of his suspension in letters last week, but were not told the reason.
The governors said in a statement: ‘The executive principal of the Folkestone and Marlowe Academies has been suspended from his duties. An investigation remains ongoing, the nature of which is confidential.
‘This has not interfered with and will not inhibit the good work going on in the schools, where the respective head teachers and their senior leadership teams ensure that teaching and other school activities continue as normal and that school routine is unaffected.’
A Kent Police spokesman said: ‘On March 31 police arrested a 47-year-old man on suspicion of abuse of a position of trust.
‘He was later released on bail until July 30 pending further investigation.’
‘So happy to be a father’