A primary school teacher was sacked after children took dozens of pictures and videos of their genitals in class.

More than 100 pictures and videos which showed the genitals, underwear and the removing and lifting of clothes, were found on school iPads at Georgian Gardens Community Primary School in Littlehampton.

A professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency found teacher Kerry Johnson had failed to adequately supervise and/or safeguard pupils and prevent them from taking the images.

Also, it found that she had prior knowledge of concerns that one pupil, who was present in the class and involved in the activity, had “engaged in sexualised behaviour towards one or more classmates in the past”.

Miss Johnson admitted both allegations and also admitted that her behaviour amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

She admitted that while she was in charge of the class she was carrying out administrative tasks which took her attention away from the pupils.

The panel found that the conduct of Miss Johnson fell “significantly short of the standards expected of the profession” during the incident on April 4, 2022.

The report said, in total, approximately 133 photos and videos were found across five devices, including photographs of nudity, an edited nude photograph and videos of pupils clothed. All of the photos and videos were taken by pupils of other pupils during Miss Johnson’s lesson and inside the classroom.

The panel said they were concerned by the length of time over which the photos and videos were taken by pupils and they considered that a teacher should be constantly scanning the room to check what the pupils are doing and noted that Miss Johnson accepted that she had a “commanding view” of the room.

The panel found it troubling that Miss Johnson had not been aware of what the pupils had been doing on the iPads during that time.

“The panel has found all of the allegations proven and found that those proven facts amount to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute,” documents stated.

“The panel has made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that Miss Kerry Johnson should not be the subject of a prohibition order. The panel has recommended that the findings of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct likely to bring the profession into disrepute, should be published and that such an action is proportionate and in the public interest.”

The teacher was dismissed with notice by the school in 2022 following a disciplinary hearing in June, prior to the professional panel.

Miss Johnson said she was "extremely sorry to both the school and the students that were involved".

Sarah Buxcey, on behalf of the secretary of state for education decided that a prohibition order, which would have prevented Miss Johnson from teaching again, did not need to be put in place.

Gemma Elliott, chairwoman of governors at Georgian Gardens Community Primary School said: "The former member of staff fell short of our high expectations around the safeguarding of children and as such we followed all necessary processes in line with the local authority's policies.”