A nurse sacked from a private girls school in Worcestershire for smacking her son in her own home has lost her appeal for unfair dismissal, it has been reported.

Susan Pope, aged 46, lost her £33,000-a-year job at the prestigious Malvern St James School in Worcestershire, because the bursar felt her actions would had a damaging effect on its reputation.

Mother-of-three Mrs Pope’s ordeal began when her 15-year-old son contacted police over claims she had smacked his 11-year-old brother in their home in Malvern.

She was arrested, questioned and spent a night in the cells.

Social services were also called in and the boys placed on the Child Protection Register while an investigation took place.

However the police did not bring any charges and social services did not take any action and the abuse allegations were withdrawn.

But, Mrs Pope told an employment tribunal in Birmingham, Malvern St James School went onto sack her.

The school’s bursar, retired Army major Denis Smith, said they had to dismiss her because the rumours could have had a damaging effect on the school’s name.

The employment tribunal rejected her claim for unfair dismissal.

Speaking after the ruling, Mrs Pope is reported as saying how she felt she was the victim of “double standards” and “political correctness”.

She said the bursar, Mr Smith, who has since left the school, was not sacked, despite being convicted of drink-driving following a police chase, she alleged.

“I’ve had an unblemished record for 25 years and as long as you don’t commit a criminal offence, then what anyone does in their family home is no-one else’s business,” she said.

“My children weren’t taken away from me. It is not illegal in this country to chastise them. Some people might not like that, but my husband and I have chosen to do that and it’s nobody else’s business. If my husband and I had done anything wrong then the justice system would have prosecuted us.”

Mrs Pope now works as a lingerie assistant in the Malvern Park branch of Marks and Spencer.

She said: “I feel let down by the school and social services and now I have been let down by the employment tribunal.”

A spokesman for Malvern St James School said they welcomed the tribunal’s decision.