TEACHERS reacted with "horror" last night at the suspended three-month jail sentence handed to a woman for slapping an unruly pupil.

Marjorie Evans, 56, headteacher of a South Wales primary school, had earlier been convicted of assault and is likely to lose her job after 35 years unblemished service.

She was warned in court yesterday that if she commits another offence in the next 12 months she will go to prison.

The National Union of Teachers' general secretary, Doug McAvoy, said Mrs Evans's sentence would "send a shudder through the teaching profession".

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers said: "I think it's very harsh."

He warned the case would force heads to exclude more pupils rather than put themselves and their staff at risk should they be provoked, however unwisely, into taking action.

Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of NASUWT, said he was "very disappointed" adding: "The world has gone mad."

Eammon Farrar, headteacher at Hurworth School, near Darlington, said: "I'm horrified, absolutely horrified.

"I'm very, very concerned about the judgement. You just wonder where we are heading to with all this. We will be told soon that we can't even shout at them and tell them off.

"When I was a boy, you wouldn't dare go home and tell your parent you had been hit by your headteacher because you would get clouted by your parents as well."

Sue Sayles, headteacher at Riccall Primary, North Yorkshire, and national vice-chairman of the National Association of Headteachers, said: "My first reaction is just great sadness. I think it's a reflection of the pressure people are under. This is not going to ease that pressure."

The National Union of Teachers said an appeal against the conviction would be lodged next week which it would fund.

Mrs Evans, of Usk, south Wales, was found guilty of slapping the ten-year-old boy, who had behavioural problems, after he became unruly when told he could not go swimming in September last year.

She admitted that she had restrained the boy, who also had learning difficulties, by getting hold of both his wrists and crossing them over his body, but she denied hitting him.

The boy and three of his friends gave evidence in court that she had slapped him.

A teacher at the school told the hearing Mrs Evans had admitted to staff later in the day that she had hit him.

Yesterday, Abergavenny stipendiary magistrate Vivian Manning-Davies told Mrs Evans: "You failed the complainant, you failed the school, you failed your honourable profession and the community."

He added that what she had done was a "total dereliction" of her job and that she had committed a "breach of trust."

Shadow education secretary Theresa May said there was now a "desperate" need for better guidance to teachers.

But Graham Powell the chairman of the board of governors at the school, which cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was "astounded" by the sentence.

He added: "She has not failed the school, the pupils or the community. Mrs Evans is an excellent teacher and a first-class headteacher.