On the last night, some students misbehaved and adults at the camp decided to have the six, aged 11 and 12, pack their bags and get in the school van.
One of the children started to cry and the camp leader told parent helpers Moses was going to do a "tough love thing" with the students.
Moses drove them to an unfamiliar location in Ōtorohanga, with the idea of giving the students a "fright", the decision said.
She dropped them at a bus stop and told them to walk back to Whakatāne - a two-and-a-half-hour drive away - or back to the school camp 10KM away, then drove off.
Three students began walking back to the camp and the rest tried to head for Whakatāne.
Twenty minutes later Moses caught up with the first students and asked them where the others were, then left them alone and drove off to find the missing trio.
When she failed to find them, she drove back to pick up the first three students and unsuccessfully searched again before calling the police for help.
The three missing students were not found until after midnight when a parent helper helped locate them and took them back to Moses.
While she was talking to the police, the three missing children were made to stand with their noses toward a shop window.
Moses then drove all six children back to camp and only allowed the children who tried to walk back to camp to go to sleep.
The other students were ordered to strip down to their underwear and stand with their noses again a tree until they apologised for their behaviour.
When two students showed "sufficient remorse" in Moses' opinion, they were allowed to return to bed, while the third student was made to stand there for another 20 minutes until he showed remorse.
The next morning, Moses took those three children home, advised their families and apologised.
The school decided Moses should write a formal apology to each whānau and receive a warning, and the principal informed the Teachers' Council. Moses faced a complaint of serious misconduct and she accepted that her behaviour met that threshold.
The tribunal agreed, saying Moses' conduct "reflected adversely on her fitness to be a teacher".
"Leaving intermediate-age children alone, at night, in an unfamiliar area, on two separate occasions, is entirely inconsistent with a child's wellbeing," tribunal deputy chairman Sam Wimsett said.
"It was dangerous. Making them lean against a tree in their underwear and a T-shirt, after the previous events, including having to involve the police, was also completely at odds with the well-being of the children...
"They certainly could have led to physical harm. It is good fortune they did not."
The tribunal censured Moses after taking into account her expression of remorse, apologies to the students' parents, and her attendance at a professional development course.
Moses was also ordered to notify any current or prospective teaching employer of her misconduct for a period of two years.
She also has to complete a Zones of Regulation course and be mentored for a period of 12 months.
The names of the students' were suppressed but the tribunal rejected a request for Moses' and the school's identity to be withheld from publication in the judgment.
The Rotorua Daily Post approached Whakatāne Intermediate principal Mike Webster for a comment about the incident.
In a joint written statement Webster and Alan Basire, the Board of Trustees chairperson of EOTC [Education Outside of The Classroom] activity, said: "The School and Board takes the physical and emotional safety of all our students seriously at all times, especially whilst on EOTC activities.
"We pride ourselves on having a very engaging, relevant and successful EOTC programme each year that leaves positive lifelong memories for the students.
"We can confirm that concerns were raised about the handling of an issue on a camp two-and-half years ago. As soon as we were informed about this matter, the school and Board conducted a full and thorough investigation and subsequently reported the matter to the Teaching Council.
"The school, board, staff members and whanau involved were part of the process and outcomes."
Webster and Basire said there have been protocols put in place by the school to ensure such incidents are not repeated on any camp or EOTC activity.
The staff member concerned is no longer at the school, they said.
