Parents at an Enfield primary school claim rodents have been running through classrooms and leaving droppings behind, sparking concerns over children’s health.
There have been reports of mice and rats running around in classrooms at Brimsdown Primary School, with droppings left on tables, in lockers and on carpets and dead mice seen in corridors.
A mother of a year nine pupil at the school says it has begun to resemble a real-life version of Stuart Little, with mice reportedly spotted in every corner of the building.
Natalie Williams, 42, whose nine-year-old autistic son attends the primary school, says concerns were first raised with the school in November last year, with further emails sent in December after a parent spotted a mouse in the corridors.
She claimed her son had to take several days off school after falling ill with diarrhoea, which she thinks may be linked to conditions at the school.
According to Williams, her son came home everyday after school saying: “Mum, there’s mouse poo all over the carpets and the teachers have told us to stay away from it.
“I got an email from someone, reporting that they saw a dead mouse in the corridor and there was loads of poo behind the piano.”
Williams, who joked she once had a house mouse she called ‘Stuart Little’ because it took her two years to get rid of it, says the mice at school are now so used to children they barely hide.
On Monday, a mouse was apparently seen running around in the corridors after a teacher let it out from a classroom.
Other parents told Williams that they saw a teacher was seen carrying two rats in a shoebox to dispose of outside, and there were rumours that a child found a ‘rat sitting there eating his lunch’.
However, Williams said her complaints were not taken seriously and that the school remained open – despite what she believed was insufficient action to tackle the pest problem.
Frustrated that multiple emails to both the school and its owner, The Ivory Learning Trust, went unanswered, she took to social media to air her grievances.
“If it weren’t for me blowing it up on social media, it would still not have been addressed,” she said.
“We only got an email three days after it was on social media – and they tried to blame the post for causing anxiety to other parents.”
A group of mothers visited the school on Wednesday to demand action, but Williams claimed they were told to leave.
She now hopes to organise a meeting with a local councillor to fix the problem.
Stuart Pope, headteacher of Brimsdown Primary School, said: “Over the past few weeks, there has been increased activity at Brimsdown, and we believe this is due to building works taking place.
“The health and safety of the children is our top priority and we are doing everything we can to deal with this situation.
“We have a professional pest control team visiting the school weekly to continuously assess the site and put measures in place.
“We have also increased our regular cleaning schedule, cleared out any storage spaces where mice might settle, ensured that no food is left out and commissioned a thorough deep clean of the entire school during the half term break.”
Featured image credit: Natalie Williams
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