A former teacher at an Aire Valley school has been banned from the country’s classrooms for at least five years for entering into an “inappropriate relationship” with a 14-year-old pupil.

Simon Burns, 37, who taught at Titus Salt School in Baildon from 2005 until last year, sent the girl texts in which he wrote “I love you” and signed off with hugs and kisses, a disciplinary panel was told.

The messages were discovered by the pupil’s mother and resulted in a Teaching Agency hearing which found Burns was guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct”.

Education Secretary Michael Gove accepted the disciplinary panel’s recommendation that Burns should be allowed to return to teaching after five years if he is able to persuade another panel he is fit enough to do so.

Mr Gove said: “Burns failed to maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour. His behaviour meant that he failed to treat pupils with dignity and he failed to observe proper boundaries.

“I have carefully considered the issues of public interest and proportionality and agree with the recommendation of the panel that Burns should be prohibited from teaching.”

In its findings the agency panel says that Burns also allowed the pupil to be in his stationary car in May 2012 and not told his school managers it happened.

And he ignored instructions by his bosses in December 2011 not to enter into any text conversation with a student, to immediately report to the headteacher or to his union representative if he received a message from a student and to make sure at all times that conversations with students were appropriate and professional.

The panel also found Burns used offensive language to disparage his managers.

Recommending that he should be banned the panel’s findings say: “Burns is a relatively young teacher and he has an opportunity to change. The panel consider on the evidence before them that Burns needs a period of time to change.”

There was no mention in the findings that the relationship between Burns and the girl had been physical.

Councillor Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for Children and Young People’s Services, said: “As a parent we place our children in trust of this profession that they will observe proper boundaries and recognise that children need protection and look to teachers as a source of learning. Any teacher who steps beyond those boundaries should not be employed.”

Titus Salt headteacher Ian Morrel said the school had no comment to make.