A primary school in Derbyshire has had to be evacuated after a student brought a grenade in for a World War II show and tell assembly, it has been reported.
Students and staff at Osmaston CofE Primary Care School, in Ashborne, Derbyshire, were evacuated on Friday, and bomb disposal experts were called in.
Head teacher Jeanette Hart told the BBC said she was unsure if the device was live, so she took it from the boy and slowly placed it behind a “substantial” tree in the car park as the school was cleared and emergency services were called.
“It was quite an eventful assembly,” Mrs Hart she said. “It was going fine and there was a boy who brought an old bullet case in, which I knew about, but then his friend produced a hand grenade from his pocket. That, I was not expecting.”
Bomb disposal experts later established that the grenade was safe.
According to the report, the student had brought in the grenade, which was a family heirloom, without telling his parents.
Mrs Hart said, “It looked old and I thought it might be safe, but I didn’t want to take the risk.”
“I ended the assembly, took it off him and slowly carried it outside and put it behind a far tree in the car park. I wasn’t 100 per cent happy carrying it, to be honest.”
Police and army bomb disposal experts were called to the scene, and the children and staff moved to safety.
Derbyshire Police said army explosives experts determined the grenade was safe using X-ray equipment.
Officers praised the school staff for their quick thinking.
A spokesman for the Matlock, Cromford, Wirksworth and Darley Dale Police Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “We even got to see those [X-ray] images and [were] told a detailed analysis of how there was nothing that would set the grenade off.
“Just a word of guidance for parents and guardians – double check what your kids are taking to show-and-tell, especially when they are family heirlooms.”
