Harrow teacher 'in tears' after pupils find topless photos
A female art teacher at Harrow School is said to be distraught after pupils
found topless pictures of her on a memory stick left in a photography studio.
Joanne Salley, 32, is a former model and beauty queen but has taught at the
leading public school for several years.
When the Cambridge graduate discovered the compromising pictures had been
discovered and circulated throughout the £29,670-a-year school she was
reportedly escorted home in tears.
The pictures were taken by Fiona Corthine, a fellow teacher who is head of
photography.
Mrs Corthine apparently left the memory stick in a school photographic studio
where it was found by an inquisitive pupil who then wasted no time in
showing his friends.
The photographs were seen by a large number of the school’s 825 pupils and
were even sent to boys at the school Miss Salley had worked at previously,
the independent Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood, Herts.
One sixth former said: “She was topless. Everyone already thought Miss Salley
was a babe anyway so naturally the photo went round the school like
wildfire.”
Barnaby Lenon, the school’s head master, offered his support to Miss Salley,
who is one of five art teachers at the school and a former girlfriend of
Matt Dawson, the former England rugby player.
Mr Lennon said: “Joanne Salley is a long-standing and successful art teacher
at Harrow who has, in the past, been a model. Photographs of her modelling
were taken by a professional photographer who also teaches photography
part-time at the school. These pictures were stolen and passed on to some
pupils at the school without the agreement of the photographer, who holds
the copyright. The matter is being investigated.”
Miss Salley, a former Miss Northern Ireland, has experience of attracting
unwanted attention at Harrow, where she taught several years ago before
returning this academic year.
In 2006, she disclosed that two years previously one pupil had become rather
too friendly. She said: “One of the boys kept sending me love letters, which
wasn’t really appropriate. Another pupil used to turn up to my classes even
though I didn’t teach him. When I got angry with him, he seemed to like me
even more.”
During a subsequent break from teaching, Miss Salley worked for Comic Relief
does Fame Academy and as a researcher for the BBC’s Hard Sell before joining
Merchant Taylors’.
Mr Dawson once described Miss Salley, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, as his “Irish
lucky charm”. The couple dated for six years before separating in 2008.
Miss Salley, a trained ballet dancer and keen polo player, was crowned Miss
Northern Ireland in 1998 and came runner up in the Miss UK pageant.
Both she and Mrs Corthine were unavailable for comment.
Before becoming a teacher, Miss Salley co-hosted The Big Breakfast with Johnny
Vaughan on Channel Four and also starred in an advert for the Peugeot 106.
To help get over her 2008 split with Mr Dawson, she joined a five-month
volunteer programme in Cambodia.
The pictures are understood to have come to light shortly before pupils took
their GCSE art exams.
A source said Miss Salley was “very upset” and temporarily absent from the
classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment