A senior teacher has been banned from the classroom for two years after fiddling his expenses and helping pupils in a GCSE exam.

Mark Clayton, from Beacon Hill High School in Blackpool, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by a hearing of the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) last month.

Four counts against the teacher were found proven, including wrongly claiming for taxis from his home to school on expenses.

The panel also found him guilty of helping four pupils during a GCSE maths module exam.

The GTC said Mr Clayton also incorrectly or dishonestly used funds designated for an Advanced Skills Teacher, even though he was no longer an AST.

In a report of the hearing, the GTC disciplinary committee said: “The dishonesty persisted over a long period. His conduct involved a serious departure from the code of conduct. He abused his position of trust.”

The report said his actions in relation to helping pupils during their exam “could have seriously affected the educational outcomes of pupils”.

“The conduct overall was fundamentally incompatible with Mr Clayton continuing to be a registered teacher,” it concluded. ib.