School evacuated as grenade brought to show-and-tell

A school was evacuated and army explosives experts called after a pupil unexpectedly produced a grenade from his pocket in a show-and-tell assembly.

Staff at Osmaston CofE Primary School, in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, said they had not been expecting the boy to bring the World War Two weapon in for the assembly on Friday morning.

Head teacher Jeanette Hart 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.

Army experts later established the grenade had been safe but police praised the "quick-thinking" staff.

"It was quite an eventful assembly," Mrs Hart told the BBC.

"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."

Mrs Hart said she had not wanted to cause a panic when she realised he was holding the grenade - a family heirloom the boy had picked up without telling his parents.

"It looked old and I thought it might be safe but I didn't want to take the risk," she said.

"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% happy carrying it to be honest."

Mrs Hart said the children were moved to safety while police and army explosive experts were called to the scene.

"The children didn't really know what was going on but they knew something was different and they were excited because they saw the police and because they were playing out when they would have been in school," she said.

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."

Mrs Hart said she had had "a little chat" with the boy after the drama.

"It was entirely innocent," she said. "I don't think he ever really knew what it was.

"We'd been talking about VE Day and he knew it was from the war and just thought it was an interesting thing.

"His family didn't know [he took it] and they were a little taken aback."

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