A FEMALE teacher had more than 1,500 phonecalls with a pupil and had her "lion" round for tea.

Kate Griffiths has been banned from teaching for at least two years after being found to have had an inappropriate relationship with a male student at a teacher misconduct hearing between July 4 and 8 this year and on August 15.

The 37-year-old was working as a maths teacher at Benton Park School, in Rawdon, when the issue arose.

She joined on September 1, 2014 and the panel found the inappropriate relationship happened in and around a ten-month period of time, with a male student – referred to as Pupil A in the proceedings.

This included exchanging phonecalls and texts with him, meeting with him away from school, permitting him to visit her home and through someone called Young Person Z in the proceedings, indirectly giving him £5 on three or four occasions in July, 2017.

Ms Griffiths even spoke about “love” and called Pupil A her “lion” in notes saved in her phone which related to him, but she claims this was motivated by a desire to be "maternal" towards the student.

Ms Griffiths said the meetings were never alone, on a one-to-one basis and that when Pupil A came round to her house, it was not pre-planned and several other people were present at the time.

The 37-year-old was first warned in an email, due to the vulnerability of the pupil and the fact he had difficulty regulating his emotions.

A witness told the panel they explained that the pupil might “misinterpret individual attention” and she was formally directed not to have one-to-one meetings with him.

This came off the back of concerns he was becoming increasingly dependent on Ms Griffiths, something she had been warned about with another pupil previously.

Ms Griffiths had a disciplinary meeting, relating to a complaint made by a parent about her conduct and received a written warning.

During that hearing, she maintained she had avoided one-to-one meetings with Pupil A.

But a police interview with Ms Griffiths – alongside further enquiries by the force, such as examining her phone – on the back of a second complaint made about her conduct, showed there were 1,764 calls between her and Pupil A over a five-month period.

This included 62 calls just days before the disciplinary meeting.

Ms Griffiths described having an “oh my God, what have I done moment” in the hearing.

She added: "I realise now that I should have told the head teacher at this point that I had been exchanging phone calls with Pupil A but I was afraid.

“I was very worried about losing my job and the impact that would have on my children.”

But a few days after the disciplinary hearing, there were more than 100 calls made between the pair – 83 of which were from Ms Griffiths.

She said this increase in calls from other days was her attempt to break off contact.

She used a term of endearment for Pupil A in her contacts on her phone and the panel said this “evidenced a closeness and familiarity that went far beyond a usual teacher/pupil relationship”.

There were a number of notes identified in Ms Griffiths’s phone too and she accepted three of them related to Pupil A.

These were lengthy notes and included messages such as: "I will hold your hand when your body shakes, I will stay up with you through the sleepless nights"; “well I'm the lucky girl who gets to be by your side while you grow into the powerhouse that I know you are.”

She also referred to the student as “babe” and her “world”, saying “I’ve got you baby, I’ve always got you”.

Ms Griffiths directly referenced “love” in the notes, including: "Pupil A, I promise you that there will not be a second that goes by that I don't love you” and “but most importantly, I promise that I am yours, yours alone, and that I love you with every atom of my being.”

Ms Griffiths accepted they were "intense" and she was "horrified reading them", but she maintained they were never actually sent to him.

She also said using “your girl” was meant as someone wanting to offer support and she referred to herself in similar terms in conversations with others, including her own children.

Police notified Benton Park that no further action would be taken against Ms Griffiths, in regards to the second complaint made about her conduct, including having an improper relationship with Pupil A.

She had been suspended up until this point but the school then began its own investigation.

Ms Griffiths resigned in March 2018, prior to the conclusion of that investigation.

She was referred to the TRA (Teaching Regulation Agency) at the end of that month by the school.

Ms Griffiths has been banned from teaching indefinitely by the Secretary of State for Education.

This means she cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

But after two years – August 23, 2024 – she will be able to apply to have the prohibition order set aside.