Christ Church School (Ashford)

Infobox UK school
name = Christ Church Church of England High School


size =
latitude = 51.12750
longitude = 0.85571
dms = dms
motto =
motto_pl =
established =
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Comprehensive| religion = Church of England
president =
head_label = Headteacher
head = Catherine Barber
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label =
chair =
founder =
founder_pl =
specialist = Maths and Computing College
specialist_pl =
street = Millbank Road
city = Ashford
county = Kent
country = England
postcode = TN23 3HG
LEA = Kent
ofsted = 118845
staff =
enrollment = 1200
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 16
houses =
colours = colorbox|purple
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.ashfordchristchurch.com/
website_name = Ashford Christ Church Homepage

Christ Church is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school in Ashford, Kent. The high school was recently given media attention after a pepper spray attack.

Pepper Spray Attack

More than 20 pupils were taken to hospital after a 12-year-old boy released pepper spray at their school.The boy, who was arrested and held on suspicion of possessing a banned weapon and discharging a noxious substance, has been freed on bail. A total of 21 pupils were taken to William Harvey Hospital suffering from minor breathing difficulties, coughing, sore eyes and vomiting.

The injured pupils of Christ Church High School, in Ashford, Kent, were all later sent home.A Kent Air Ambulance Trust doctor and ambulance staff assessed or treated a further 35 pupils at the scene while fire crews wearing breathing apparatus ventilated the building.

Pupil Georgina Fletcher, 11, said: "I was in a humanities lesson when we all started to smell something funny. We didn't know what it was and a lot of us started coughing.

"Then a teacher came in and we were all told to go down to the school medical room. Lots of people were panicking, some of my friends were coughing and some fainted.

"I was told to go home but two or three people from my class were sent to hospital." The pepper spray was released in the rear stairwell of a classroom block.A Kent County Council spokeswoman said lessons resumed after the incident and the school is now open as normal.Meanwhile, two parents were arrested at the school on suspicion of assaulting police. The men aged 32 and 37 were subdued with parva spray - a different substance from the illegal one used inside the school.