Sheffield girl hit with firework could be ‘scarred for life’ as furious mum slams school

A 12-year-old girl was attacked as she walked home from Outwood Academy City in Stradbroke last Friday afternoon.

It is reported that fellow pupils were setting off fireworks after lessons and one of the yobs hurled one at the Year 8 pupil, which exploded in her face.

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The firework burnt the young girl’s face and perforated her ear drum.

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She is now under the care of a specialist plastic surgery team in Sheffield in the hope that she is not scarred for life.

The youngster is off school recovering from her ordeal.

A police investigation into the incident is under way but the girl’s mum said she is disappointed with the response from the school so far.

She believes that the school has not held any assemblies to inform pupils of the attack or to encourage those with information to come forward.

The mum-of-two, who has been provided with names of those involved in the attack and who was selling fireworks beforehand, has asked the school whether the pupils have been spoken to and if they have been expelled, but claims she was told information could not be shared with her for ‘data protection’ reasons.

“I am frustrated and what appears to be such a laid-back approach the school is taking. It feels like there has been a lack of action," she said.

“My daughter could have been killed, it does not get much more serious than this – a school’s pupils attacking another pupil – and we are entitled to know what the school is doing about it.

“There is a safeguarding issue here, not just over what happened to my daughter but the risk those pupils involved also pose to others and parents have a right to know whether they are still in school.”

She added: “I have gathered names and information from people all weekend and am thankful to those who contacted me but the community needs to stand together now and provide evidence to the police or they will get away with it.

“The brother of a schoolboy selling fireworks before this happened laughed at us in the street afterwards. These are the kind of people we are dealing with. They have no respect and could easily do this again.”

Outwood Academy City said: “We would like to take this opportunity to first and foremost wish the student a speedy recovery.

“What happened to her is absolutely unacceptable and we wish to make our stance on that clear.

“We will continue to keep in contact with the student and her family and will be here to help and support them if and when they need it.

“The safety of our students is of paramount importance to us and we have followed all procedures and policies since being made aware of the incident and although the incident did not occur on our site, we have made it clear to our students that behaviour like this will not be tolerated and falls way below the standards we expect from them when out in the community.”

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