Spanish students on a exchange trip to taste British culture were ambushed by a hooded gang who hurled bricks and bottles at them.

Police said that some of the assailants were as young as 11. The exchange students, aged 13-17, were chased down the street and sought refuge in the Heritage Park Special School, Sheffield, while emergency services travelled to the scene.

The students had arrived from Madrid to improve their English as part of a language exchange programme in Chesterfield, and had travelled to Sheffield to visit an ice rink.

After the attack three of the students were treated in hospital for cuts, bruises and shock.

John Hill, the headmaster at Heritage Park, said: “Many of the students were hysterical. These were nice, middle-class teenagers whose families had paid a lot of money for them to be here. Most of them were absolutely distraught. Many were suffering from shock and were sick. The whole of our dining room turned into a medical centre. We had to enact our school’s disaster policy.”

John Mothersole, the chief executive of Sheffield City Council, said that he was outraged. “Sheffield is a welcoming city. These mindless actions are not representative of true Sheffielders. This is totally unacceptable behaviour.”

June Graham, a co-ordinator at the School of Languages in Chesterfield, said: “We have never had problems like this before in Sheffield.” Beatriz Monge, the school’s manager, said: “It could be that Sheffield is becoming a dangerous city and we will avoid it.”

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