Head teacher failed to disclose husband’s police caution

A head teacher whose husband was sentenced for outraging public decency has been banned from the classroom.

Sarah Cooke was principal of Foxhole Academy in St Austell, Cornwall where her husband Peter Cooke was a handyman.

He was caught by neighbours watching porn and masturbating in his garden and was handed a suspended sentence.

The Education Secretary made the ban following a panel hearing last month. It prohibits Mrs Cooke from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) panel said Mrs Cooke had breached professional standards and found her guilty of five charges of wrongdoing.

The panel also said she showed “a lax attitude” to safeguarding before recommending a prohibition order.

Mrs Cooke resigned after her husband of 30 years was arrested early last year, over the garden incident.