A supply teacher was marched out of a secondary school after brandishing a knife in front of terrified children in his classroom, parents claimed today.
The male teacher shocked pupils, aged 11 and 12, by allegedly whipping out the blade, which was covered with a sheath, in the middle of a lesson.
Council officials have now launched an investigation into the complaints from “stunned” parents.
The agency employee, who has not been named, was booted out of St Edmund Campion School in Erdington, Birmingham last Friday.
Parents yesterday expressed shock and demanded to know how the teacher was allowed to allegedly bring a weapon into the school, which caters for 1,036 pupils aged 11-18.
One parent whose child attends the school said: “The teacher was escorted from the school at 11am on Friday.
“The head was calling parents. I phoned the school because my daughter told me what happened.
“I was stunned and wanted to find out if it was true. The head called me back and confirmed there was an incident with a teacher.”
A Year 7 pupil who was being dropped at school by his mum, added: “I wasn’t in the class but he teaches me.
“He seems nice, he is quite funny, I don’t get why he would randomly do that.
“The word going round school is that he randomly got a knife out and was waving it about.
“No-one seems to know why, I don’t think it was part of the lesson.”
Another Year 9 pupil added: “I don’t get why they didn’t report it to the police.
“From what I heard it was pretty bad and some of the kids were crying because they were scared, even though the knife was covered.
“If a pupil had a knife then we would be excluded and you know they would phone the police.”
One parent, who was dropping off her Year 8 daughter said: “I don’t always give her a lift but thought I would this week to be on the safe side.
“I’m sure it’s just a one off and the school have removed the supply teacher but it is worrying.
“With what happened in America [the Newtown school shooting] last week, you know it only takes one nutter to destroy 30 lives.
“Luckily this guy doesn’t sound like he was going to do any harm but it couldn’t been a lot worse.
“Hopefully the school will learn from this and do strict checks on supply teachers from now on.”
Another angry parent added: “It’s a disgrace. The school shouldn’t have someone there who might do this.
“Kids are supposed to feel safe at school but parents end up worrying more and more.
“I have a right mind to remove my son but it will only cause more hassle.”
Birmingham City Council is now investigating the incident.
A school spokesman said: “Following an alleged incident reported, an agency teacher was asked to leave the premises and we have reported the matter to the agency.
“We have also contacted the local authority’s Position of Trust team and they will be looking into it.”
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “No allegations have been reported to the police.”
The school was rated “good” following a visit by Ofsted inspectors in November last year.
The watchdog said significant improvements had been made since the last inspection in March 2011, when inspectors found attainment was “low, but improving.”
