A TEACHER has been suspended from a Suffolk boarding school after he was accused of sexually assaulting a pupil.

A TEACHER has been suspended from a Suffolk boarding school after he was accused of sexually assaulting a pupil.

Stuart Barley is today suspended from the £18,000-a-year Royal Hospital School in Holbrook after allegedly kissing a teenage student.

The 45-year-old appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, where he denied two charges of sexual activity with a child under 18 years while in a position of trust on March 7 and 18 this year.

Barley is alleged to have kissed the teenage student.

He was released from court on conditional bail until December 18, when he is due to be committed to Ipswich Crown Court where he has elected to stand trial.

A spokesman for the school confirmed he has been suspended pending the outcome of the criminal investigation but refused to comment further.

The 670-pupil boarding and day school is set in 200 acres of countryside overlooking the River Stour.

Fees are £18,600 for boarders and £9,900 for day pupils, according to the Independent Schools for the British Isles website.

It is a co-education school and was founded as part of Greenwich Hospital, a charitable institution for the aged, infirm or the young.

Pupils and staff gather for worship in the chapel most mornings and the school says Christianity is fundamental to its philosophy.