A primary school teacher who failed to tell her headteacher that she was dating a child sex offender has been barred from the classroom.

Nicola McCarthy was a teacher at Hartburn Primary School in Stockton between September 2021 and October 2022 when she was suspended after the relationship came to light.

At no point when she applied for the job or after did she admit she was seeing, and lived with, a convicted sex offender, a teaching misconduct hearing heard.

Her partner's actions only came to light when safeguarding concerns were flagged with the school.

The 32-year-old’s teacher’s house was searched and her partner’s devices seized by police during an investigation.

The partner was later convicted of possessing two Category A and 54 Category C pictures of kids under 18, given a community order, and placed on the sex offenders’ register.

A teacher misconduct hearing was told Miss McCarthy failed to disclose that she was in a relationship with them while they were being investigated, then convicted, of having indecent pictures and videos of underage kids.

The panel said Miss McCarthy, an experienced teacher, had a duty to disclose her relationship and her partner’s circumstances to the school.

It said: “Miss McCarthy’s relationship with Person A, who she was living with at the relevant time, created a transferrable risk that required a disclosure to be made. The need to safeguard children was of paramount importance and it was not open to Miss McCarthy to decide upon the level of risk Person A presented and/or how that could be managed, given her personal involvement and consequential lack of objectivity.”

She was barred from teaching for two years, and will have to apply for the ban to be set aside after that time if she wishes to re-enter the classroom.

Julia Armstrong, CEO of The Prince Regent Street Trust which the school is part of, said: “The safety and welfare of children remains our absolute priority.

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“As such, the moment we were made aware of the safeguarding risk, the staff member was suspended from all duties pending the outcome of enquiries.

“We have continued to cooperate fully with authorities during the subsequent investigation.”