Teacher sues over sex allegations

A teacher at a private school resigned after he felt "driven out" by accusations that his son had sexually harassed foreign students in his care, an industrial tribunal in Ashford, Kent, heard yesterday.

Chas Brooks is claiming he was constructively dismissed from the Perry Court Rudolph Steiner School in Garlinge, near Canterbury, Kent, after the governing body refused to apologise for the allegations, which, he said, were "wholly untrue". Mr Brooks said: "I wrote to every girl who had ever stayed with us and every one wrote back saying nothing of the sort had happened. They were upset that the allegations had even been made." The tribunal was adjourned until today, when the school begins its case.

Mr Brooks, 48, was a class teacher at the 230-pupil school which charges pounds 3,000-a-year for a unique education from the age of three to 18. Pupils are taught by one teacher who covers all subjects.