A SECONDARY SCHOOL English teacher in Yorkshire has claimed she was wrongfully dismissed from her job after writing a racy novel which included her pupils as characters.

Leonora Rustamova, 40, who was a teacher at Calder High School in West Yorkshire, was dismissed from her duties in 2009 after she penned and self-published her novel, called Stop! Don’t Read This!.

The novel – which Rustanova said was an “innovative” way of showing her students that English literature was more varied than they may have otherwise thought – also named a number of her colleagues in the school, and described scenes where her students took drugs, drank heavily, acted violently and used plenty of strong language.

One of her students – all of whom had their real names used in the book, but whose names cannot be published due to a court order – was depicted as fantasising and flirting with her, while the Halifax Courier reported that two other students were described as potential finalists in “Mr Gay UK”.

Defending the case at an employment tribunal in Leeds, Jean Bradbury of the school said the book had “brought the school into disrepute, in large part because the book was available to the public arena and the fact the school was named”, the Donside Piper claimed.

Rustanova, who taught at the school for 11 years, said the affair had been blown out of proportion. When she was sacked, police had to be called to the school after over 250 pupils demonstrated against her removal.

A ruling in the case could be given today.