A biology teacher who admitted to having sex with five 17-year-old pupils has been spared jail.

Marquita Alston pleaded guilty to five counts of statutory rape at the Pearl Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School in Nashville, Tennessee.

She was given five years’ probation and ordered to sign the sex offender register.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said its Sex Crimes Unit started investigating Ms Alston in November 2014. It concluded she had performed sex acts on five different pupils between September and November 2014. Some of the acts took place on school property, according to officials.

The police were alerted to her actions after the school’s principal, Sonia Stewart, was sent a tip-off.

In addition to her probation, Ms Alston will have to undergo treatment, the details of which have not been specified.

She was placed on administrative leave in November 2014, but resigned one week later, reports WKRN.

Following her absence, police interviewed a number of students.