A SUPPLY teacher had to be removed from the classroom of a Bournemouth school after allegedly asking students to use their ties and strangle themselves during a performing arts lesson.

She was subsequently sent away from the school and has been suspended by the agency which employed her whilst they carry out an investigation.

One parent of a student at The Bourne Academy, who did not wish to be named, said that she was "disgusted" by the behaviour of the stand-in teacher.

The school’s principal, Mark Avoth, said that the supply teacher was removed from the lesson “as soon as we were alerted to the situation” and that they would not be returning to the academy.

According to the parent, students were asked to strangle themselves with their ties by the supply teacher as part of their final lesson on Monday.

"This is not acceptable behaviour of a teacher and I’m totally disgusted with her behaviour,” they said. “Who in their right mind tells a child to do this?”

Mr Avoth said that one of the school’s permanent teachers supervised the remainder of the lesson after they removed the supply from the classroom.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to parents whose children were in the lesson at the time, he said: “We are aware of an incident yesterday in a performing arts lesson with a supply teacher.

“We have taken the matter very seriously and we want to thank your child for their cooperation in helping us to establish what happened during that lesson.

“As soon as we were alerted to the situation, the teacher was removed from the classroom and one of our teachers, who was free at the time, supervised the remainder of the lesson.

“Please be assured that the supply teacher will not be returning to the academy and she has been suspended from the supply agency that she works for whilst they carry out their own internal investigation.

“Please accept our sincere apologies for the upset caused.

“We pride ourselves on looking after the wellbeing of our students and we are deeply upset that on this occasion we fell short.

“Thank you for your support and understanding in our handling of the situation.”