A primary school deputy head teacher has been banned from management roles for failing to deal with dozens of child protection issues.

Pamela Allen was found guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct” at Cottingley Village Primary School, where she worked from 2001 until earlier this year.

The General Teaching Council’s Professional Conduct Committee found Allen mismanaged child protection issues in respect of 40 pupils over a number of years, including failing to adequately report when a child said she was being abused at home.

The committee found Allen’s actions had “potentially serious consequences” for some of the children at the school.

Dr Barbara Hibbert, chairman of the committee, said: “By inadequately managing child protection issues in respect of five pupils and failing to take action and follow up on child protection concerns in another 35 cases, (Allen) failed to follow the school’s child protection procedures and to take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and well-being of those children.

“These failings persisted for several years and in a number of cases these neglected duties had potentially serious consequences for the children involved.”

The chairman said Allen, who resigned during the course of a school investigation into the matter, was a teacher for more than 30 years before these matters came to light, with no concerns raised prior to 2009.

In her written submission to the GTC, Allen said that she was “personally devastated” by the suggestion that children could have been harmed as a consequence of her actions.

However Dr Hibbert said: “(Allen’s) failings were serious and sustained over several years in a large number of cases. Her poor and inadequate record-keeping meant details were not properly logged or dated and an evidence trail provided for others to use in the future. This was the situation that her successor faced when she took over.”

One example, Dr Hibbert said, involved a pupil who had been seen by staff to be distressed during the summer term and had reported that she had been sworn at and hit at home.

“Allen made one attempt to telephone the mother but was unable to make contact,” Dr Hibbert said. “She then took no further action, for example by reporting the matter to social services, even though she would have known that she would not be seeing the child for six weeks over the summer holidays.”

The committee imposed a Conditional Registration Order barring Allen from working in a post with any management responsibility for child protection, either paid or unpaid.

The ruling effectively means that she can only work in a school as a main scale classroom teacher.

A spokesman for Cottingley Village Primary School said: “All breaches of procedure are taken seriously and the school has taken appropriate action which has been fully investigated. No child has been put at risk.”