A supply teacher has been banned from an Oxford school after using a hammer to frighten a class of eight-year-olds.

Children at Orchard Meadow First School in Wesley Close, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, started crying after the incident on Friday afternoon.

The teacher, Paul Wilcox, of Worton Road, Middle Barton, near Banbury, was trying to control the class when he reached for a hammer on a desk and pointed it at children.

Kevin Smith, eight, of Strawberry Walk, Blackbird Leys, was one of the pupils. He said: "I was being a bit naughty and Mr Wilcox said: 'Be quiet or I will give you something to cry about.' He was shouting and calling us idiots. He picked up a hammer and walked across the room to us. Then he walked back to the table and banged it down. Everyone sat down. They were all scared."

Kevin's mother, Marcelle Smith, said some girls in the class left the school screaming.

Several parents complained to headteacher Ricki Bull who held a meeting at the school yesterday to apologise to them.

A letter she wrote to parents said: "The actions of this teacher were entirely inappropriate and his style of behaviour management was very different to that which we would normally use. "You can be assured that this person will not be teaching at Orchard Meadow School again."

Miss Smith said: "I was so annoyed I went to see the headteacher. I asked her what a hammer was doing lying around in the classroom and she said a teacher had been putting up a display."

Stephanie Lewis, of Pegasus Road, Blackbird Leys, whose eight-year-old daughter Chinaire was in the class at the time, said: "My daughter had tears in her eyes when she came home on Friday. I was furious when she told me what had happened. I don't think this man should be able to work in any school."

She said when she went to the school yesterday morning she demanded to know the supply teacher's name and the agency he worked for, but the school refused to give her the information.

Mr Wilcox, who has an eight-year-old daughter himself, said: "I don't think I can make any comment. I deny I threatened anyone with a hammer."

Mrs Bull declined to comment about the incident.

A county council spokesman said: "If the allegations are found to be correct, obviously we would take every step to ensure that this particular teacher is not employed in an Oxfordshire school again and will contact the Department of Education - or suggest that the agency concerned does so - to alert other schools elsewhere."

Story date: Tuesday 07 December

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