Two staff members at the centre of a storm over the controversial posting of explicit photos online have returned to their positions at a St Albans secondary school.

One employee was suspended for contravening Marlborough Science Academy’s social media policy and professional code of conduct and another asked to work from home while an internal investigation was launched in early February.

The action was taken after a Key Stage 4 pupil created an account on a dating social networking site that required users to be 18 years of age, unbeknown to the two school employees.

This resulted in communication “unwittingly” taking place between staff and the student.

The investigation into the incident has now been completed.

In a recent statement, the school said its governors had agreed to allow both members of staff resume their positions at the school pending the formal conclusion of the investigation at their meeting on Tuesday (31).

Yesterday, in a further statement, the school said: “Following an investigation into contraventions of the school’s social media policy by two members of staff, a governors’ hearing has endorsed the head teacher’s [Annie Thomson] decision to take internal disciplinary measures against one member of staff.

“The investigations found there were no safeguarding issues involved and both staff members have now returned to their positions at the school.”