Smiling, the drama teacher wife who had f ling with girl pupil
BEAMING for the camera, this is the married teacher struck off for a fling with a schoolgirl.
sarah Barton was head of drama at a convent school when she had sex with the pupil after taking her to see a musical.
the pair also had sex in Mrs Barton’s car and local fields. this week the 36-year-old was banned from teaching for five years after ‘abusing the pupil’s trust’.
Pictured for the first time, the teacher is seen grinning in a fuchsia pink fascinator and necklace.
in another photo, Mrs Barton poses for a selfie, the mirror behind her revealing a blue cocktail dress and stilettos.
Yesterday, the NsPCC condemned Mrs Barton’s behaviour at the Catholic girls’ school in Essex, and said it was ‘right’ that she was dismissed. the children’s charity said she ‘abused trust for her own sexual gratification’.
An NsPCC spokesman added: ‘teachers play a vital role in safeguarding and it is therefore right that she is banned from a profession which would have seen her working in close proximity with children on a daily basis.’
the relationship between Mrs Barton and the girl, known as Pupil A, started when she called the teenager to organise rehearsals for a play.
But their friendship became sexual during the academic year 2015/2016. Mrs Barton had received permission from the pupil’s parents to regularly give her lifts home, a misconduct hearing was told.
the teacher, who contacted the pupil using the messaging service WhatsApp as it ‘wasn’t traceable’, also went to dinner at the family’s home – thereby ‘ abusing the pupil’s trust and her parents’, the disciplinary panel said.
Colleagues became suspicious about the length of the time the two were spending alone together in Mrs Barton’s office.
she had been employed at the school from september 2007 to July 2016 as a drama teacher and later as head of department for drama and dance.
this week the misconduct panel said that after the testimony of a male colleague, they had ‘no doubt that Mrs Barton had been an ‘ exceptionally well respected member of staff’.
Chairman Mark tweedle said: ‘he explained that she was one of the most dedicated of his colleagues. Even with full knowledge of the allegations and her admissions, he would be content for Mrs Barton to teach his daughter.’
it was accepted that Mrs Barton had suffered an undisclosed ‘trauma’ in her personal life. But Mr tweedle added: ‘ this was a sexually motivated relationship that continued despite warnings from her colleagues. it was not a one-off spontaneous event.’ A hearing by the National College for teaching and Leadership recommended that Mrs Barton – who admitted her behaviour amounted to unacceptable professional conduct – be banned from the classroom for two years. But the Department for Education ruled this week that a fiveyear ban was the minimum. the school was not named in the panel’s report in order to protect the victim’s identity.