A TEACHER who took two pupils to Alton Towers on an unofficial school trip and allowed one of them her to stay overnight at her house after the girl had left school has been banned from the classroom.

Clare Griffiths, who worked at Harper Green School in Farnworth, also emailed the pupil "excessively" late at night and during weekends while she was at school.

Mrs Griffiths, aged 38, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

Emails included: "Will you miss me if I am not in tomorrow ” and another email included a broken heart emoji which Mrs Griffiths stated that she had used to express her disappointment that pupil A had completed coursework for other subjects before her ICT subject.

Emails also contained questions about how the pupil was feeling.

Mrs Griffiths also sent an email to the pupil detailing confidential details about Year Six pupils.

The pupil’s mother said she had no concerns about her child staying overnight Mrs Griffith’s house and was aware of exchanging emails once she had left school.

Mrs Griffiths started working at the school as a Newly Qualified Teacher from 2009 and resigned in December, 2014. She was the pupil’s form tutor until she was in Year Nine and between 2012 and 2014, Mrs Griffiths was the pupil’s mentor under an informal arrangement.

The pupil left the school in summer 2014 and her uncle attended school to report concerns regarding the pupil and Mrs Griffiths relationship in October 2014.

The panel found that the pupil, along with another, were misled that an official school trip had been arranged to taken them to Alton Towers shortly after she had left school.

The panel said it was not convinced it was “an authorised school trip”, although it noted that the pupils stated they had received a consent letter for their parents to sign which was on school headed paper.

And it was found that Mrs Griffiths' conduct was dishonest toward the parents regarding the school trip and the panel heard a trip of that nature would not have been authorised, particularly for Year 11 pupils who had left the school.

The panel added that it did not consider the trip involved serious dishonesty and appears to have been done with the best of intentions.

Mrs Griffiths, who had a previous good history, was also found to have discussed her own problems with “a potentially delicate pupil (given the school’s concerns over Pupil A’s health)".

The panel stated: "This could have the impact of putting pressure on Pupil A and causing her concern which may have had an impact on her own health."

"The panel considers that it was also a serious departure from the standards to take pupils on school trips without the necessary paperwork in place. The paperwork is required to protect pupils and could have resulted in harm being caused to pupils under different circumstances (particularly in relation to pupils being accompanied by adults without the necessary DBS checks)."

The panel also stated that some of the allegations took place outside of the education setting adding: "The panel considers that this conduct may lead to pupils being exposed if proper procedures are not followed. Further, it could lead to pupils becoming susceptible to possible grooming or other serious harm if they consider it to be usual for pupils to stay in touch with teachers or stay at teachers’ houses.”

Decision maker Jayne Millions said that a review period of two years “should allow Mrs Griffiths the opportunity to reflect on her own behaviour and to act within the standards expected of a teacher”.

Mrs Griffiths is prohibited from teaching and may apply for the order to be set aside in two years.

A council spokesman said: "As soon as concerns were raised, the school took appropriate action and the individual was suspended as a neutral act. The teacher is no longer employed by the school."