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A maths teacher offered schoolgirls £300 to pose topless, a court heard. He also sent naked pictures of himself to a 16-year-old girl and made sexual suggestions to girls, often texting under a pseudonym and using Facebook.
Neil Mason, 28, who taught at The Heath School in Runcorn, Cheshire, admitted 10 charges which involved four victims between March 2012 and December 2012.
They were two counts of causing girls under 15 to engage in sexual activity, six counts of adult abuse of position of trust against girls over 16, and two charges of making indecent photographs.
Jailing him for two and a half years, the Recorder of Chester, Judge Elgin Edwards, said: "Over a period of 12 months, you abused your trust as a maths teacher at The Heath School in Runcorn. Your conduct was quite deplorable.
"Parents have a right to expect that their children will be safe when they are in school and be taught, not regarded as sex objects of desire to satisfy a teacher's sexual lust.
"That is what you did to these four girls. You are a sexual predator. You have brought shame on your profession, yourself, your family, your school and your colleagues.
"Children are sent to school to learn and be educated, not to be corrupted by a man like you. You have endeavoured to corrupt four girls. This is a parent's worst nightmare."
Chester Crown Court heard that Mason used pupils at the school as 'sex objects of desire to satisfy his sexual lust' and admitted intimately kissing the girl to whom he sent the naked images on the lips and stroking her leg.
Maria Masselis, prosecuting, added: "There was a lengthy and intense history of inappropriate contact. He wanted her to go to his home and engage in sexual contact. She felt scared. He stroked her leg and kissed her on the mouth."
Police found 17 images of the girl, topless and nude, on his computer. Other victims said they felt 'scared' and 'betrayed' and could no longer trust male teachers.