Science teacher Peter Harvey was today charged with the attempted murder of one of his students.

The 49-year-old teacher is accused of attacking 14-year-old student Jack Waterhouse, who was found by paramedics on Wednesday in a pool of blood at the entrance to a classroom in the science block at All Saints’ Roman Catholic School in Mansfield.

Mr Harvey, from Mansfield, will appear tomorrow morning before the town’s magistrates charged with attempted murder, Nottinghamshire Police have said.

The student was taken to hospital with serious head injuries, and is in a stable condition at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Mottingham.

Mr Harvey is reportedly still being questioned over alleged assaults on a boy and a girl in the same class.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson said the incident was out of the usual at a school with a good and widespread reputation.

He said: “It’s a school where people send their children from a wide catchment area. There have been no similar incidents before.”

Jack Waterhouse lives in Worksop, 15 miles away, and was described by neighbours as a quiet, well-behaved boy. Friends have left messages of support for the teenager on the internet, and there have also been messages posted in defence of Mr Harvey, who had reportedly recently been off work for two months due to illness.

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