Parents warned to avoid teacher sacked

Parents and pupils at a London primary school where Boris Johnson sends his children have been warned not to approach a sacked teacher.

Canonbury Primary School is in turmoil following the dismissal of the drama and class teacher Robert Stringer, 56. He was ordered off school premises in Islington within two hours of Canonbury being contacted by a previous employer. The children of former Schools Minister Lord Adonis also attend the school.

Evening Standard can reveal Mr Stringer was subject to a police investigation at Field End Junior School in Ruislip, from which he resigned last year.

The inquiry was prompted by a parent's complaint that he showed Shakespeare In Love, which includes sex scenes and nudity, to children as young as seven in his drama club. The case against Mr Stringer was later dropped by police who found no evidence that any crime had been committed. However, Hillingdon council has passed details of his behaviour to the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

The ISA was set up after the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in Soham in 2002, to "prevent unsuitable people from working with children".

In a letter sent to parents on the day Mr Stringer was sacked from Canonbury on 16 January, joint acting headteachers Michelle Bahn and Lisa Horton wrote: "At this point we would recommend strongly that parents and children should not make or have any contact with Mr Stringer."

Mr Stringer today told the Standard he refuted all allegations made against him and said he had been the victim of a hostile campaign.

Mr Stringer said: "The initial event at Field End that led to all of this was me showing the drama club a Shakespeare film. Two children's parents said the film had inappropriate material in it and they complained. This was two sets of parents out of a drama club of 50 children. After that, it all just spiralled out of control. A lot of these claims were manufactured against me. I had 250 letters of support and there were various petitions to support me.

"The police investigated and dropped the allegations completely. I left Field End because I had serious health issues at the time. It was my own decision to leave."

The parent who complained to the school after his eight-year-old daughter watched Shakespeare In Love, said: "I raised it with Mr Stringer directly and he was very, very arrogant about the matter. He said he would write me a letter of apology but he would continue to show the film. I said don't bother about the apology I will take it further."

In a statement, Scotland Yard said it had investigated Mr Stringer over his behaviour but concluded no criminal offence had taken place.

Mr Stringer had been employed on a temporary basis in September to run Canonbury's after-school drama club one night a week, but in November was employed full-time as a year six teacher and drama club leader. His sacking follows the suspension in October of Canonbury's headteacher Jay Henderson over allegations of "unprofessional behaviour". Mr Henderson's suspension is currently under investigation. The school refused to discuss the matter.

Islington council said the two incidents were not related. Parents have not been told why Mr Stringer was sacked or Mr Henderson suspended.