A Gippsland secondary school teacher has pleaded guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old student last year.
The public school where the woman taught learnt of the offending after anonymous letters were sent to the school.
The County Court, sitting in the Latrobe Valley, on Wednesday heard the teacher, who was 30 at the time, approached the year 11 student after noticing he was upset and the pair exchanged Instagram account details.
The court heard the pair then started talking via the social media channel and eventually exchanged phone numbers, resulting in text messages and late night phone calls.
The teacher was charged with engaging in sexual penetration with a child of 16 and indecent acts, committed in July and August last year.
The court heard the boy would sneak out of his house and the teacher would pick him up in her car and take him to a Central Gippsland pine plantation, where they would have sex.
The woman, who is now 31, has has since left teaching.
A complex case
Judge John Smallwood said he was yet to decide on a sentence, but it was a complex case.
He said he was concerned about the effect imposing a prison term would have on the victim.
"It's always a concern to me that no one is game to say what effect will this have on the victim," Mr Smallwood said.
"He did say he was worried for her."
A victim impact statement from the student's mother read in court described her anxiety relating to what her son had been through.
"This whole thing came as a complete shock," it read.
"I would sob uncontrollably to my husband, questioning myself as a mother."
The court heard the teacher had suffered from poor mental and physical health and since her arrest had been admitted to hospital on multiple occasions.
The woman, who was earlier released on bail, will be sentenced at a later date.
