Leading headteacher John Tomsett has escaped being banned from teaching after having an affair with a formal pupil, but his future as a headteacher in York still hangs in the balance.

Mr Tomsett was found guilty of “conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute” after admitting he had a sexual relationship with a former pupil the summer she received her A-level results.

On Monday, an officer for the secretary of state ruled that Mr Tomsett, a founder member of the Headteachers’ Roundtable, would not be barred from the profession.

“I have concluded that not imposing a prohibition order is proportionate and in the public interest in this case,” Alan Meyrick said in the statement.

“Mr Tomsett is seen as a caring, empathetic, dedicated and driven teacher and leader and demonstrate his value to the educational establishment.

“A prohibition order would prevent Mr Tomsett from teaching and would also clearly deprive the public of his contribution to the profession for the period that it is in force.”

Mr Tomsett, who entered the teaching profession 29 years ago and has been a headteacher for 14 years, has taken a leave of absence from his school in York.

A spokesperson for York city council said the school governors “will now meet to consider next steps”. 

“It would be inappropriate for us to pre-empt these discussions or comment further.”

He declined to comment on Monday’s decision to Tes while the process was ongoing.

Mr Tomsett was in his first job, as an English teacher at Eastbourne Sixth Form College in the early 90s, when he had the affair with the pupil, aged 18.

The panel heard how they kissed in his classroom on his last day in the job, including tearful evidence from the former pupil in which she described her “guilt” over the tryst.

He later picked her up in his car and took her to local beauty spots where, on one occasion, there was “consensual oral sex and masturbation”.

On another occasion, while fully clothed, Mr Tomsett - nine-and-a-half-years her senior and married - lay on top of her “rubbing up and down and simulating intercourse”.

The affair continued in the years after, including one time in 2004 when the former student visited Mr Tomsett at the school in Pickering where he was teaching. 

The couple also twice met again in 2011, when they made love on each occasion.

The investigation was triggered when Mr Tomsett published a book about good teaching practice, called This Much I Know About Love Over Fear, in 2015. 

The book, which has a picture of him hugging a pupil on the front cover, prompted the former pupil to tell a counsellor about their relationship more than 20 years earlier.

She told the panel: “I felt angry because there was a picture of him hugging a pupil. It was trigger. And I remember getting upset.”

The counsellor then informed the police, a move which she said had breached her confidentiality.

In Monday’s decision, Mr Meyrick said he “does not consider that current pupils are likely to be exposed to or influenced by this behaviour in a harmful way”.

In recent years, Mr Tomsett has been a regular writer for Tes.