Here is the full text of a letter sent by the head teacher of the Sholing Technology College to parents following the conviction of a teacher for possessing child abuse images and animal porn.

Dear Parent,

You will be aware that Edmund Warbrick, a former music teacher at The Sholing Technology College was sentenced on criminal charges at Southampton Crown Court. Whilst these charges do not relate to conduct on the school site, nor are they linked to any student, you will rightly be concerned, as a parent, because of the nature of the offence.

I can assure you that we have been co-operating fully with the police in their criminal investigation against this former member of staff and have had the full support of Southampton City Council. The school has been praised for the promptness with which we responded once issues were raised.

Some of you may be concerned that you were not informed sooner, however, as this was a criminal investigation we were advised that we could not inform parents about the nature of Mr Warbrick’s extended absence last year.

Please be assured that at The Sholing Technology College, safeguarding is our priority and we continually review our procedures, as indeed we have done as a result of this case. In addition, as a result of the trial we will be offering both students and staff access to our counselling service if they feel the need.

The Sholing Technology College is a good school and as a new Headteacher joining in September I was proud to be given the opportunity to lead the school in its pursuit of a world class education and provision. I still passionately believe this is the case, and our values will support our students continually, including making them feel safe and in achieving their academic goals.

Regards,

Martin Brown Head teacher.