IN the wake of two days of social media clamour, tumult and comment following the appearance of police at St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope Thurrock NubNews has been analysing as best we can what happened.

In a bid to separate the fake news chaff from the wheat, site editor Neil Speight – whose own child attends the school and who is a former governor there - has spoken to senior staff at the school, Essex Police and has scoured hundreds of social media comments.

Also taking a close look at events and speaking to involved parties is local councillor Shane Ralph who shares a view that now is the time for things to 'calm down' and to let the school get on with safeguarding pupils.

However, both Cllr Ralph and Mr Speight say that communication issues on all sides have not been handled as well as they might be and they hope lessons have been learned.

Mr Speight says: "Let's look at the facts that are provable. I can probably say things that the school would be reluctant to do, but if it helps clarify matters then so be it.

"At the end of the day, in these times of strife and trouble all schools have a duty of care to be prepared to deal with some of the most extreme situations. Only a couple of weeks ago an incident happened at Hathaway Academy in Grays when young people with knives were seen on school property and what followed involved the school implementing its security procedures and police attending the site.

"So these things do happen close to home!

"As far as I have been able to ascertain, the background to events and local speculation about what happened on Wednesday is that there is an issue between two families over alleged incidents involving teenage children.

"That culminated in an incident at a local gym when a 16-year-old girl was assaulted and received quite a bad injury to her face, close to her eye.

"Pictures of her injuries and lots of comment and accusations hit social media almost before the blood had stopped from her wound. Sadly, that is the society we now live in.

"Repercussions and allegations from that incident have been a formulating part of lots of social media chat. It has led to fears at both Gable Hall School in Corringham and St Clere's that there might be repercussions during school time and possibly on school premises.

"My understanding is that both schools and the police have tried, perhaps with limited success, to engage with all those directly involved with the issue to find a solution. My understanding is that one family remains unhappy and believes a wrong has not been righted. That sentiment has been shared on social media.

"As for what happened on Wednesday, I take it on faith and with trust that the school was planning a security exercise that afternoon. I have challenged and questioned the head and others about it and the timeline leading to the arrival of police.

"As part of that process it became necessary, due to information the school received, to contact police about the ongoing situation involving specific children. Police were called and arrived shortly after the majority of pupils had left the school and the officers were not engaged directly in any particular ongoing incident.

"Police have verified they attended the school but they say they cannot share, on or off the record, the details of why they were there or what happened. In the light of things that is not helpful and it is a matter I have taken up with them and suggested they need to consider their role as information providers.

"However, that's a separate argument.

"What is absolutely paramount here is the trust between the community, parents and carers and our schools. Hopefully from what happened this week lessons on all sides will have been learned and let us hope that the dispute between families and children, however difficult it may be, will eventually be resolved."

Cllr Ralph says: "I too have been looking into this as deeply as I can, speaking to local residents who have contacted me with their concerns, contacting the school and speaking with the CEO of the Osborne Trust, as well as officers within Thurrock Council and the portfolio holder for education.

"I understand local fears and concerns and have personal experience of the nature of social media and the way it can explode into an unmanageable and inflammatory mess. I am of the belief now that the school acted as it should have done, no children were put at risk and that lessons have been learned and the experience gained will be put to good use.

"I just hope that going forwards we can see a little more reasonable behaviour on social media and that people think twice before they post about the implications of what they write."