An Ottery pupil who took a knife to school has been excluded, along with one other.

The King’s School’s headteacher confirmed there was incident involving a lower school child (Year 7 or 8) on Monday (March 4).

Rob Gammon said: “Having investigated this, we were satisfied that there was no malicious intent, confiscated the knife and reported the matter to the police. We have also excluded two lower school students as a result.

“There is obviously heightened awareness of knife crime nationally but this is an extremely rare incident for King’s and our response demonstrates how seriously we take the issue.”

A parent of a Year 7 student said: “I am thoroughly disgusted that this young child thinks it’s appropriate to bring a knife into school, especially given the current situation with knife crime amongst youths in the UK.”