A mum has said she is concerned for her son’s safety after he was punched and slapped at school.

Police were called after an incident at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (Baca) in Falmer during which the 15-year-old boy was attacked by other pupils.

The boy, who The Argus has chosen not to name, was slapped in the face and on the back of the head last week.

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: "Police have received a report of an assault at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy, Lewes Road, Brighton, on Wednesday, October 11.

"Officers are in contact with the school and enquiries are ongoing."

The boy's mother said that the issue is an “ongoing problem” and initially expressed concern about the school's response.

She said: “He doesn’t understand how severe it is. He doesn’t comprehend what he has been through.

“It’s not one single incident, it’s a failure of safeguarding.

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“It’s an ongoing problem and he hasn’t been looked after properly.”

Jack Davies, principal at Baca, said: "It is our duty of care to protect our students, and that’s why we want to be clear that we take this kind of issue extremely seriously.

"Our school is a safe place for our students, and this isolated incident is very upsetting; it in no way represents the respect and kindness with which our pupils generally treat each other.

"The family involved have told us they are supportive of the steps we have taken and whilst we cannot comment on any action taken against individual students, what we can say is that we do not tolerate violence of any kind, and any incidents of this nature are handled swiftly and appropriately.”

The boy's mother added that the school was now taking measures to address the incident further after being contacted by The Argus.

The school previously celebrated improvement in its Ofsted grade after being rated inadequate in 2022 and placed in special measures. It is now rated “requires improvement”.