Regents Park teacher Jonathan Downes left pupils' GCSE coursework in car boot

Course head Jonathan Downes also lost work by a “significant number”

of youngsters, missed others off a vital marking sheet – meaning it wasn’t credited towards their final grades – and lied to colleagues in a bid to cover his tracks.

Senior staff at Regents Park Community College became suspicious of Mr Downes and stepped in.

Mr Downes has now been given an official reprimand by teaching regulators for his “unacceptable professional conduct”.

He was late sending off pupils’ citizenship coursework, missing a crucial deadline, because he had put it in the boot of his car, forgotten about it and taken it home. He eventually posted it off three days after the cut-off date, but lied to colleagues in a bid to cover his tracks.

A disciplinary panel at the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) heard the head of religious education and citizenship at the King Edward Avenue school also missed off several children from a recording sheet he had to submit.

That meant they received no marks towards their GCSEs for their hard work. It is not known how many pupils were affected, but the conduct committee was also told that coursework produced by a “significant number of his students” was missing and has not been found.

The panel concluded: “Mr Downes’ conduct fell short of the standard expected of a regist e r e d teacher, and was behaviour which involved a breach of the standards expected of the profession.

“The public is entitled to place their trust in those who teach their children; and by his conduct, Mr Downes undermined that trust.

“Mr Downes’ conduct did have a serious affect on pupils, as evidenced by their subsequent grades.”

Mr Downes left Regents Park just a week after last year’s GCSE results were released, but after spending some time working with drug addicts, alcoholics and ex-offenders is now a supply teacher.

Head teacher Sarah Hill said the school had proactively investigated Mr Downes, who was an experienced teacher who had held a number of roles within the school.

Mrs Hill said: “The interest of students is essential to us and always central to what we do.

“As soon as we suspected there may have been impropriety we investigated it and followed all the appropriate procedures and guidelines, working with the local authority to go to the GTCE.

“We involved the exam board straight away and put everything in place to support the students.”