A school has moved to reassure parents after a pupil was found to have brought a "concealed weapon" into a secondary school.

A person brought the weapon, which has not been described further, to the Deanery Academy in Wichelstowe.

It prompted headteacher Kelly Osbourne-James to write to parents, who have praised the school for their handling of the situation.

The letter, sent on Tuesday, January 29, said: "I am writing to inform you of an isolated incident that happened today, in sharing this information, my intention is to provide you with reassurance and confidence in both our staffing team and our policies and procedures. 

"A student has brought a weapon to school that was concealed. No threats were made and no-one was harmed."

She adds: "At the Deanery, we take any violations of our Behaviour Policy very seriously and take immediate action where required. The relevant external agencies have been informed of this incident."

The letter adds that there are "external influences that exist in society linked to knife crime" but that the school's safeguarding team does many things to educate young people about the dangers including assemblies, website resources, and theatre productions. 

"I am confident after experiencing the swift and effective action taken by the staffing team today, that students are safe at the school and will continue to be so," Mrs Osbourne-James added. 

One parent, who wished not to be named, said: "I want to applaud The Deanery staff for how they've handled this. I was impressed, to be honest. 

"But, this is a real indictment of the reality facing our young people at the moment and it is something I worry about all of the time.

"Children do not feel safe and they feel like they have to carry weapons to protect themselves, clearly something needs to be done to make them feel safer so they don't have to do this."

Knife crime has become a big focus in the town with the local authority, Wiltshire Police and charitable organisations like Owen's World and Change Lives No To Knives all working to reduce it. 

The police and local NHS have been conducting 'Blunt Truth' sessions in schools as part of Operation Sceptre which aims to teach children about the potential consequences of carrying a knife. 

The Deanery has been approached for comment.