LONDON - Nearly 30 pupils have been suspended from a London high school for posting 'deeply insulting' comments about a teacher on Facebook, the social networking website.

The girls at the Grey Coat Hospital School signed up to a Facebook group named The Hate Society, which contained messages attacking the teacher.

Their comments are thought to have come to light when a pupil printed off the web page and passed it around the school, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The targeted female teacher is understood to have received counselling.

But some of the pupils who received the temporary exclusions criticised the school, which is funded by the Church of England, as being too harsh.

'It was just a stupid game that no one took any notice of. We have said sorry and understand that what we did was wrong, but yet they continue to carry this on,' one girl told the paper.

Another girl described the abusive website as 'a bit of harmless fun'.

While The Hate Society page has been removed from Facebook, disparaging comments about the teacher remain posted on another website, with one girl describing her as an 'awful, awful person'.

Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Britain, said pupils should face expulsion in serious cases.

'Some of these incidents can be really, really nasty. Young girls, in particular, can be very malicious. Teachers attacked in this way have no chance to defend themselves. Their professional and personal reputation can be left in tatters,' she said.