Families say children will not return to Girls' Model School in Belfast 'until bullying is resolved' as protest held at school gates

​The comments were made at a protest outside the Girls' Model school in north Belfast on Thursday afternoon, when perhaps 150 people assembled for a protest.

On Tuesday, the PSNI were called to reports of "an assault" at the school which they are treating as a "hate crime".

No-one has been arrested, and school authorities will not say if anyone has been disciplined.

The police are also investigating an alleged assault in September too.

North Belfast DUP MLA Brian Kingston said the incident on Tuesday involved two ethnic minority pupils and two white pupils, but that he now understands there have been “around five incidents” since the start of the school year.

So far the authorities have released little information, and have warned parents not to spread "inaccurate claims".

School principal Paula Stuart said: “The safety and well-being of all of our students remains our highest priority.”

She added that “due to an ongoing PSNI investigation, and in line with safeguarding procedures, I am limited in what I can say”.

Pupils started being withdrawn on Wednesday after rumours circulated that knives had been brought into school – something the Education Authority and police say is not true.

Mr Kingston said “hundreds” of children have now been withdrawn from school (there are about 1,200 pupils in total at the controlled school).

One mother told the News Letter that her daughter was attacked last month; she was "pinned down" by pupils who "beat her up" and "pulled her hair out".

She said there is a group of pupils who have left other girls "petrified", and at the protest today a number of parents said the same thing.

One woman at the protest, who gave her name only as Cathy, said she had two granddaughters at the school and that pupils were being “terrorised”.

"First, second, third years are afraid to go to the toilet on their own," she said, adding that one granddaughter came home from school "in an awful state" after witnessing Tuesday's fracas.

Nikki Robertson, a 36-year-old from west Belfast, has a daughter at the school, whom she picked up at about 1pm on Wednesday amid the rumours about knives.

"I just hope the school stands up and does something because none of our daughters feel safe," she said.

"The kids clearly feel under threat."

Jay Coates, 57 and from north Belfast, has a grand-daughter at the school who has now been taken out of class.

"I'm concerned – very concerned – about my granddaughter's safety.

"What is the Education and Library Board doing, and what is the principal doing, to protect our children and protect their safety?"

Glenn Gordon, 37, and from north Belfast, said: "What concerns me the most is the lack of information and transparency from the school, when a lot of rhetoric is going around online.

"I just feel like this hush-hush behaviour from the school, this 'say nothing' behaviour, radio silence, is completely unacceptable."

Isobell, who has a granddaughter at the school, said: "My granddaughter phoned yesterday saying 'get me out'.

"She'll not be back, not 'til this is all sorted."

Lilian, who has a daughter at the school, said: "My daughter was taken out yesterday. I said: 'You know what, you're not going'.

"She gets 'best attendance' awards, and she's off today."

Stuart Coates, 47 and from west Belfast, has two daughters in the school, 18 and 12, both of whom were off on Thursday – "and not coming back 'til this is resolved".

Louise Bonner, 33, from north Belfast, also has a daughter in the school.

"There was a severe attack on pupils two days ago," she said.

"She needs to be off school until this is sorted. She's not safe.”

Mr Kingston MLA said: “There is a crisis in confidence in pupils' safety at the Girls' Model School. Literally hundreds of pupils are not attending school.

"There have been a number of incidents where there's been physical altercations, attacks, incidents, and claims of bullying.

"I don't know the truth behind it all. I'm talking to as many people as I can to understand what's happened, the background to this.

"The school needs to take action to get on top of this and restore confidence."

He also said “all pupils should be in school and indeed we would encourage pupils to be in school”.

The Education Authority released a statement tonight in the name of ​Paula Stuart, Principal of Belfast Model School for Girls.

It said: “The safety and well-being of all of our students remains our highest priority.

"We are following the robust, established processes and procedures, as set out by the Education Authority (EA) and continue to work closely with EA and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

“Due to an ongoing PSNI investigation, and in line with safeguarding procedures, I am limited in what I can say in relation to this incident however, I wish to reassure parents and students that the PSNI were onsite to view CCTV and no knives were involved.

“I would reiterate that many of the claims on social media are entirely inaccurate and ask for our school community’s support in helping to stop the spread of misinformation, which has significant potential to negatively impact our young people’s sense of safety and wellbeing.

“Our school remains committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment for all our pupils.”

This closely echoes a statement they had released a day earlier, saying it aims to create "a safe and inclusive learning environment".