FIGURES obtained by The Pembrokeshire Herald have highlighted the scale of police involvement in Milford Haven School over the last few years.
The investigation comes days after police attended the school to break up a fight between pupils. A video of that incident went viral on social media.
Since that story broke, a teacher at Milford Haven School has spoken to The Pembrokeshire Herald on condition that they are not named in this newspaper.
The Herald was told by the member of staff: “Some of the pupils at the school are totally out of control. The police are called often, sometimes several times in one week.
Our source added: “I would say that there are near riot conditions. I know that some of the staff have spent time off work, and they have told me that this is because of stress-related issues.”
The Herald checked with the local authority who said that emergency services had attended Milford Haven school 127 times since January 2017.
Of these calls, 110 were to the police’s 101 service, and 17 were to the 999 emergency call centre.
It is not known at this stage of the 999 calls how many were to ambulance or fire brigade – but it is understood from our source that nearly all of these calls were to Dyfed-Powys Police.
In 2017 there were 63 calls to the 101 service and eight to the 999 service.
In 2018 there were 45 calls to 101 and again eight calls to the 999 service.
So far in 2019, just days into the new term there have been two calls to 101 and one 999 call.
The council said that these figures, which they supplied, ‘show 101 calls declining and 999 calls stable’.
As the school is open for 190 days a year, the numbers demonstrate that the police are contacted on average two or three times a week during term time.
A spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council said: “It is important to point out that 101 calls cover a range of issues and 999 could be for the other emergency services, ambulance and fire.
The spokesperson added: “The police do attend the school for a variety of reasons, for example, if a young person is reported missing; to deliver assemblies to students, lunchtime workshop.”
In relation to work-related stress, the Council said: “There are no teachers currently absent from work with work-related stress.”
The council added, in a statement: “The school wishes to make clear that it takes the safety of pupils and staff very seriously and all incidents are dealt with under tested policies and procedures.
“This ensures that pupils are provided with the best possible opportunities to achieve their potential. The school would like to thank parents/carers and the wider community for their continued support.”
In December police were carrying out high visibility searches to stop drugs being brought into the school.
Police officers along with a drugs dog sent time on the school premises where some pupils were searched – but nothing was found.
PC Adam Bateman said: “This was a proactive exercise to show pupils at the school that if they thought about taking drugs onto school grounds we would be able to find them.
“As a precautionary measure, an area of the school grounds was searched by the police dog in order to establish whether any drugs were present.”
Headteacher Ceri-Ann Morris said: “We have confidence that this is an effective part of an overall drugs education strategy.”
