A harrowing regime of extreme monitoring by school bosses helped drive a woman teacher to suicide, NASUWT union members heard yesterday.

In an emotional address, Medway delegate Andrew Green described how an “inventive, inspiring and creative teacher” he knew had taken her own life after being ground down by an invasive system of appraisals and check-ups.

“She found herself in such a dark place that the only way out she could see was to literally end her life,” he told the education union’s conference in Birmingham.