A secondary teacher who threatened to put a curse on a special needs pupil and drown him, and racially abused two others, has been barred from teaching indefinitely.

Roslyn Holloway admitted to hitting, verbally abusing and threatening her students, all of whom had special educational needs. She also tore the hair out of two pupils' heads which she then pretended to use to curse them.

The 49-year-old, who taught at the Lord Silkin Trust School, Shropshire, for seven years, was barred from teaching indefinitely by the General Teaching Council (GTC) on Monday.

Holloway pulled out hair from one of her students during class and wrapped it around the leg of a keyring voodoo doll, the council heard.

She then told the student if she put the doll in water he would drown.

She also did the same with another student after he would not stop talking, telling him he would get hurt if she dropped the doll. The assault left the student with a red mark and lump on his head.

The GTC found Holloway guilty of using offensive language towards students during a drama lesson, referring to students as "Pepsi Max", "black boy", and "ginge". Holloway struck another student on the head in the school corridor, called him an "idiot" in front of his classmates and threatened to bang his head on the table.

Holloway, who taught students aged 13, also breached the terms and conditions of her employment contract by failing to disclose to the secondary school she had been cautioned for battery in 2009.

After parents complained, Holloway was told by her employers she had to change her methods but continued to terrorise her students.

The GTC, sitting in Birmingham, found her guilty of six counts of unacceptable professional conduct. Holloway, who was absent from the hearing, admitted all the allegations in a statement and accepted they amounted to unacceptable behaviour.

The panel described Holloway as causing "significant distress" to "vulnerable pupils" and demonstrating a "lack of respect for diversity and equality".