A former teacher at a prestigious East Hampshire school has been banned from the profession indefinitely after having an inappropriate relation with a student and committing serious sexual misconduct with another.

James Thomas acted flirtatiously towards a pupil and said things with sexual connotations while teaching at Bedales School, a panel heard last month.

The 34-year-old also commented on a pupil’s figure, tried to touch her clothes and made suggestions about future sexual activity while teaching at the school.

The allegations were heard during a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) panel hearing into the defendant’s behaviour at Bedales and further schools in London and Chichester.

The panel, who found Mr Thomas guilty of unacceptable professional conduct, was teaching at Shrewsbury House School in Surbiton when he started messaging a girl at another school. They heard Mr Thomas groped her body and kissed her neck while at the pupil’s home, while asking the victim to keep their relationship a secret.

Mr Thomas then wooed a pupil after moving to a school in Chichester, forcing her to perform a sex act three times and attempting to go further.

While the panel accepted most of the allegations had taken place outside school, they felt Mr Thomas had “sought to take advantage of his role and privileged access to students to further his own sexual gratification and to pursue a sexual relationship with children after they reached the age of 16”.

The report added: “Mr Thomas’ conduct was wholly unacceptable in a teacher and represented serious sexual misconduct undertaken for his own sexual gratification.

“His actions had serious, long-term negative impacts on the children involved, including on their psychological and emotional well-being and their relationships with others.”

Decision-maker Stuart Blomfield, acting on behalf of Education Secretary Lucy Powell, banned Mr Thomas, who did not attend the hearing, from teaching indefinitely.