Boy, six, removed from school after he was found carrying a knife

A six-year-old boy has been removed from school after he was found carrying a knife, the head teacher said.

The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, showed the blade to a fellow pupil in the playground at Westborough Primary School in Essex.

He was subsequently expelled from the school.

But parents have been left frustrated, claiming they feel the school covered up the incident.

Parents say the school ‘swept it under the carpet’ after the head teacher Tonya Brook called it an ‘isolated incident’.

One mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was made aware by another concerned parent on the playground.

She said she feels everyone should have been made aware about the ‘absolutely shocking’ incident in which a ‘six-year-old is bringing a knife to school’.

‘I was horrified,’ she said.

‘My initial reaction was one of fear and anger for my child because you do worry about your children going there and you don’t expect a six-year-old to bring a knife to school’.

The parent went on to say: ‘I understand there is scaremongering but with an incident as serious as this, I do think all parents should have been made aware so that we could decide what measures to put in place for our children.

‘It feels like it was swept under the carpet. I just hope the school would deal with something like this robustly to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

The school said the knife was not used to threaten anyone and that the incident was dealt with immediately.

Headteacher Tonya Brook said: ‘This was an isolated incident where a six-year-old brought a small paring knife into school in his book bag.

‘He showed it to another child. It did not come out of the bag. A member of Senior Management was on the playground to deal with the issue immediately.

‘The child was subsequently removed from the school. All relevant parties were informed.’