A SUPPLY teacher had to be frogmarched out of a primary school after allegedly manhandling pupils aged just nine and ten.

Teachers at Liden Primary School ordered the teacher, supplied by an unnamed recruitment agency, to leave the site after it was alleged he grabbed several pupils in the classroom while trying to conduct a lesson.

It is claimed he was taking a maths lesson for Year 5 pupils, aged between nine and ten, when the incidents took place.

The community school, in Liden Drive, caters for children between the ages of five and 11 and according to an Ofsted report in July 2010 had a total of 331 pupils.

One parent, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “My son came home and told me what happened so I rang the school who confirmed his story.

“A supply teacher couldn’t control the children. He grabbed a child by their face, another by the arm and he grabbed a child’s shoulder too.

“When another teacher asked why the children were upset the teacher got escorted from the school. The school haven’t put anything out to parents, only those who rang the school.

“As a parent if it was my child they wouldn’t be going back to the school.”

Headteacher Vikki Marsh-Ballard said: “We can confirm a temporary member of staff was immediately asked to leave the school following allegations over his conduct.

“The recruitment agency who supplied the member of staff is carrying out its own investigation and the school will be assisting them in this process. As such it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

A spokesman for Swindon Council said staffing issues, including recruitment, were the responsibility of individual schools and they were unable to comment. Yesterday, many parents arriving at the school to collect their children had not even heard about the events which unfolded in one of the classrooms on Wednesday.

Only a couple of the parents said they had heard briefly about what had happened but did not know anything other than a teacher had been escorted from the school grounds.

One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I heard a bit about it but I don’t know much – it’s a bit worrying really, I hope it all gets sorted out.”