A TEACHER has been banned from classrooms for life after she let her paedophile friend use her work laptop.

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) said Cecilia Rooms, who worked at an independent special needs school on the Herefordshire-Shropshire border, admitted having a relationship with the sex offender.

Ms Rooms, 57, admitted at a professional conduct panel meeting that she failed to tell the school that she had an ongoing personal relationship with the paedophile, referred to as individual A, gave him access to her work laptop and invited him to her property when a child could have been there.

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The panel heard how Ms Rooms was deputy headteacher and deputy safeguarding lead at Overton School, in Hereford Road, Ludlow, from September 2018 until she resigned when the relationship came to light in July 2019.

Ms Rooms admitted knowing about her friend's conviction in 2015, and was "fully aware" he was a registered sex offender.

The panel said the offence related to viewing, taking, making, possessing, distributing or publishing any indecent photograph or image or pseudo photograph or image of a child.

The school found out about the relationship through a third-party, but then acted swiftly.

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"The panel noted that Ms Rooms was a deputy headteacher with responsibility for safeguarding at a special needs school and as such would have been aware of national guidance on keeping children safe, and the duty to disclose relevant information; the children in her care had particular vulnerabilities.

"The panel therefore had no doubt that Ms Rooms’ actions in failing to disclose her relationship demonstrated a very serious lack of judgement."

The panel was told that her friend never had unsupervised use of her work laptop, but said allowing anyone not connected to the school to use a device with children's personal data was a lack of judgement.

"This became all the more serious given that individual A was a registered sex offender."

The panel said there was also a lack of judgement when she text him saying he could go to her home.

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Altogether, the panel said the three allegations proved "a very serious lack of judgement on the part of Ms Rooms, which had led to a high risk of potential harm to children".

The panel said it was satisfied that the conduct of Ms Rooms, a senior teacher with a specific safeguarding role, fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.

She was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

The panel heard she had since ceased contact with individual A and there were statements supporting Ms Rooms' good character.

She offered "sincere apologies" and had "shown some remorse"

She was banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot appeal the decision.