During that year, a 13-year-old in his class told him her mother was emotionally and verbally abusing her. He reported the conversation to his principal, and spoke to the student about arranging counselling.
The student subsequently contacted Mr Brabant on Facebook while he was on paternity leave, and the pair exchanged messages from 4pm until almost 11pm.
The messages included: "You'll be a catch when you are older, you got the looks"; and "Not with your package. Even I'm jealous".
The student reported the conversation, saying it had made her feel "yucky".
Previously Mr Brabant had been told to stop allowing students to stay in his classroom after school to do their homework, as it was inappropriate.
He had also been spoken to about "over-familiarity" with students on a camp in 2012.
In response, Mr Brabant told the tribunal he agreed the Facebook messages were inappropriate.
He put the incident down to "baby brain" and said he was trying to be a supportive friend and counsel the student over bullying from other students.
His comments about her appearance were part of a misguided attempt to build up her self-confidence, he said.
Based on Mr Brabant's response, the tribunal accepted that there was "no romantic or sexual overlay to his involvement".
He had resigned from his job in December 2013, following the incident, but had recently taken a non-teaching role, and had no immediate plans to return to the classroom.
The tribunal found the exchange amounted to serious misconduct, and said it was "never acceptable for a teacher to engage in an exchange at this level of familiarity with a student, whatever the motive".
However, the teacher had already been punished for his actions through losing his job, and would suffer the shame of having the decision published.
The tribunal ordered Mr Brabant be formally censured and suspended his practicing certificate for one year, however the suspension was backdated to his resignation in December 2013.
Should he apply for a teaching position within three years, he must tell the prospective employer of the decision.
Martin Cocker, chief executive of NetSafe, said using social media in the classroom could have benefits for teachers and pupils, but had to be used appropriately.
"There's no reason why teachers and students can't use technology to improve their teaching-student relationship, but that needs to be in an open and transparent way," he said.
"Having private messages on social media and so forth is extremely ill-advised at best, and wrong if you're doing it to deliberately have a private conversation with a group or a child."
The case was a lesson for schools and youth organisations on how they look after their cyber safety.
"I suppose it shows that you shouldn't make online safety one person's responsibility in a school because if that person is doing it for the wrong reasons, or is not going to follow the processes, then you're potentially creating a weakness in your online safety system rather than strengthening it," he said.
The Teachers Council decision to censure him, but back-date his suspension, was a decision for the tribunal which had all the information in front of it, he said, but added: "If somebody is unable to manage those relationships with children in a professional way then probably getting out of teaching is a good move."
Comment was being sought from Mr Brabant.
His LinkedIn profile states he is now working as a web developer and IT administrator after re-training in 2013.
"... having enjoyed working with students and staff have [I] decided to pursue another career path," his profile said.
