A former school teacher has been sentenced to two years and six months jail for sexual misconduct involving two students.

A former teacher has been jailed for two years and six months for having sex with students.

The woman in her 30s, who cannot be named, repeatedly took two young teenagers out of a Marlborough school at lunchtimes to have sex in her car last year.

At her sentencing at the Blenheim District Court on Tuesday she apologised for having sex with students, saying her offending had hurt the boys, the school and the wider community.

Kaleidico/Unsplash A former Marlborough teacher, not pictured, met students at lunchtimes, driving them to car parks to have sex in the back seat. (File photo)

Her ongoing struggle with serious mental health issues was partly to blame, and home detention would be best for rehabilitation, her lawyers said.

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But Judge Tony Zohrab said the woman, employed as wellness co-ordinator at the school, had "seriously compromised her obligations" in a role where parents trusted her with their children.

SUPPLIED Judge Tony Zohrab told the woman that no-one should have been more attuned to the needs of her students.

Judge Zohrab sentenced the woman to two years and six months' imprisonment. She would also be automatically added to the sex offender register.

"Given your professional training and experience as a teacher, no-one should have been more attuned to the needs of young boys as they turn into men, as they try to develop a sense of self," Judge Zohrab said.

"Being a teenager is difficult enough without this sort of thing occurring in their lives."

He also refused final name suppression, saying the effect on her family and her own mental health did not meet the high threshold of "extreme hardship" required for final name suppression. However, the woman's lawyers said they would appeal the decision.

The woman was employed at the school for about 12 years before her resignation earlier this year.

While working at the school, she had formed sexual relationships with "a number of students", who tended to be from more vulnerable families, and were usually involved in sport, the police summary of facts said.

She met one student when he started helping with a combined schools production and started text messaging him, asking if he needed a ride and how sport was going, and about her life.

They messaged each other every day. He would often spend lunchtimes with her, and she would talk to him about her mental health problems, saying life was getting too hard for her, and she needed someone to talk to.

They built a relationship of trust, which led to the woman becoming "flirty" with the student, the summary said.

Eventually she asked him to come for a drive in her car, taking him to the Mt Vernon car park in Blenheim, where they had oral sex.

The woman took him out of school at lunchtime and sometimes after school on several occasions, having sex with him in the back seat of the car, at several car parks around Blenheim.

The student believed they were in a relationship with the woman. She would tell him she loved him, and that he was "amazing", the summary said.

He told police he felt like he could not break up with her, as she was having mental health problems.

She sent him nude photographs of herself in bed or in the bath, and video-called him.

Their relationship lasted about a year.

Near the end of last year, they invited another student to join them in the back seat of her car for sex.

That student later met the woman for oral sex on several occasions as well, and sent him indecent photographs and video.

She admitted seven charges of sexual connection with a young person, and two charges of exposing a young person to indecent material, in October, facing a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.

The public gallery was nearly full on Tuesday, and she showed little expression during the sentencing.

One boy said through his victim impact statement read in court he had worried about the teacher, because she had threatened to hurt herself if he ended their relationship.

On one occasion she even locked herself in the car with a pair of scissors, he said.

The other boy said he was "confused and ashamed".

They had declined to meet with her for restorative justice, and refused her offer of a "significant" emotional harm payment.

Crown prosecutor Mark O'Donoghue said the woman's behaviour was serious because it happened frequently, and over a long time.

She was much older than them and in a position of power as a teacher, breaching their trust by taking advantage of them, he said.

"This was sexually exploitative conduct by an adult who did state in a statement to the court, 'You were the students, and I was the adult teacher'. She emotionally manipulated both boys ... there was a degree of coercion," O'Donoghue said.

"Young people are significantly different neurologically to adults, their ability to control impulse and make wise judgments are the last part of the brain to develop. Adolescents are more prone to acting with impulsive behaviour.

"It's hard to say no to a person in authority."

He said a jail term of between five and seven years was appropriate. Home detention would send the wrong message, especially as the offender was female, he said.

"There is also a police connection with the case, and the court needs to be seen to not give preferential treatment because of this. This is open justice, and the whole system needs to be transparent.

"The section [of law] does not discriminate for gender. If this was a male offender doing this to school girls aged under 15, I don't know if we would even be having this discussion. In my mind, home detention is totally disproportionate."

Defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton, QC, said a lengthy home detention would allow the woman to rehabilitate, which was an important part of the aims of sentencing.

Her submissions to the court showed a "genuine and powerful message ... she did take full responsibility for her offending".

She was still "struggling to comprehend and articulate" why she offended. She was struggling with anxiety, self-esteem and "feelings of worthlessness", self-harm and self-destructive behaviours.

It was not premeditated or involving serious grooming, as her relationship with the first student started innocently, and it was his idea to bring in another student, Eaton said.

There was no need to protect the public from her, and the "fall from grace" and public interest in the case meant she was already suffering the effects of her offending, he said.

The victim impact statements were short, which showed limited effects on them, Eaton said.

A pre-sentencing report said she demonstrated genuine remorse and a willingness to complete treatment, and recommended home detention.

Defence lawyer Miriam Radich said the woman had several statements of support, describing her as a hardworking teacher, a good mother and a devoted volunteer in the community. The offending came as a shock, they said.

She had no previous convictions.

Eaton also argued for permanent name suppression, saying her children were already suffering negative effects at their school.

If she was imprisoned, they would also lose their mother a week before Christmas, he said.

Prosecution and the police opposed permanent name suppression, after the boys said they wanted her to be named, as long as their identities remained protected.

O'Donoghue said naming her could also result in other victims coming forward, and in a small community where news travelled fast, the suppression was somewhat meaningless anyway, he said.

Any hardship to her family from publication was a normal consequence of such offending, he said.