Private schools are now taking out legal insurance for teachers, amid a rise in parents calling in top law firms when their children are in trouble.

If a complaint to a housemaster or head of year about their child does not yield favourable results, wealthy parents are increasing turning to solicitors’ firms in an attempt to force the school’s hand.

This can be terrifying for teachers as any kind of allegation against them can damage their career even if it turns out to be false, according to John Roberts, founder of Edapt which provides legal cover for school staff.

“It is something you are more likely to see in independent schools where parents have the means to be able to do that,” Mr Roberts told The Sunday Telegraph.

He said that instructing lawyers would not usually be a “first port of call” for parents, but tends to occur when they feel the school had not given them a satisfactory response.

Edapt launched in 2012 as a membership organisations for teachers who pay a monthly subscription and can access up to £100,000 of legal costs.

Two years ago it launched a new type of whole-school membership. “Now we have a number of schools - both independent schools and Multi Academy Trusts - taking out subscriptions for all their staff,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.