A MATRON at a top boys' public school has resigned after an affair with a teenage A-level student.

The headmaster of Abingdon School, Michael St John Parker, stepped in when he discovered the relationship earlier this term.

The resident matron quit and the 18-year-old boarding pupil was told to complete his exam revision at home. Neither has been named.

The student will be allowed back to sit exam papers and is being supported in his studies at home.

After the resignation, gossip of the affair spread at the boys' school, where members of rock band Radiohead were pupils. The teenager, who is understood to live outside the county, came into frequent contact with the matron, who lived on the school premises.

Mr St John Parker told the Oxford Mail: "The school has become aware of an inappropriate relationship between a boarder in his A-level year and a resident matron. No offence has been committed.

"However, the matron has resigned her post and a senior boy is now completing his A-level work at home. The appropriate authorities are being informed." In 1996, four fifth-year pupils were expelled from the £6,246-a-year school after they were caught smoking cannabis.

The school - whose Latin motto means "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever" - has its own website on the Internet in which Mr St John Parker offers a prospectus of the school, which frequently performs well in exam league tables.

He tells prospective parents that staff encourage boys to be "versatile and caring".

Story date: Friday 14 May

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