A teacher who sent flirty emojis and underwear pictures to a 15-year-old pupil has been barred from the profession.
Georgia Lowe, 27, flooded the boy with ‘inappropriate’ messages before they were discovered by his mother.
Despite being caught and suspended she went on to then contact the school kid again with sexual images of herself, a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel heard.
The teacher was later found guilty of engaging in sexual communication with a child and was handed a 14-month suspended jail term, the panel heard.
Lowe’s relationship with the boy began months after she started as a trainee teacher at Kingsmead School, Staffordshire, in July 2021.
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In September that year, she began sending the 15-year-old, who she was ‘responsible’ for, emails as late as 10pm, the panel was told.
The flirty messages used heart symbol emojis, kisses and nicknames.
She also sent intimate emails with the words ‘make me proud’, ‘try not to miss me too much’ and ‘you’ve already made my day’.
The teenager’s mother stumbled across the notes in October 2021 and reported them to the school, who launched an investigation and suspended her, the panel heard.
This did not stop Lowe however, who then contacted the boy again and sent him intimate photos, the TRA was told.
The teacher resigned in November 2021 and was charged by the police.
She initially denied the charge before changing her plea to guilty on the day of trial, the panel heard.
Lowe was put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and given a 14-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.
The judge’s damning sentencing remarks accused the teacher of a ‘gross breach of trust’, saying she ‘used the environment in which you were working with (the pupil) to pursue what was evidently your sexual interest in him’.
He described how Lowe even saw the boy at school despite being caught.
The judge said: ‘The concerning aspect of your case is that after matters came to light, by his mother having found out what was going on, you were spoken to, and yet you still had another face-to-face meeting with him at school, and ultimately, when the investigation was launched and you were suspended from work, you contacted him again, and that included the sending of the images of yourself to him.
‘That was a warning shot across your bows, the investigation at school, and the suspension, but you did not bring your pursuit of him to an end at that point in time.’
Marc Cavey, who was the decision maker on behalf of the Secretary of State, said Lowe’s behaviour was ‘incompatible with working as a teacher’.
He decided she should be prohibited from teaching indefinitely.
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