AN ANGRY mother has blasted a Warminster school after her asthmatic son was made to stand in the pouring rain during a PE lesson.

Samantha Mowat, 37, of The Beeches, Warminster said that her son Jordan, 14, was unfairly punished after forgetting his PE kit.

The Year 9 pupil at Kingdown Community School had to stand in his school uniform in a playing field while the athletics lesson took place.

Headteacher Sheelagh Brown denied Jordan was treated unfairly and said it was unfortunate the rain had started when the lesson was already underway.

While fellow pupils got changed out of their PE kit Jordan, who has had pneumonia in the past, had to sit in his wet uniform in the next lesson.

Mrs Mowat said his asthma was very bad when he came home and he had to miss two days of school as a result.

She added: "It took me two days to get a response from the school about the incident. I'm banging my head against a break wall. It's just such a ridiculous rule, regardless of the weather they've got to stand outside.

"I think from a health and safety point of view the school are being reckless. It's fortunate this did not happen the week before when he was doing his SATs.

"This is outrageous. I read about this in Jane Eyre, but not in the 21st century. I went to the school myself and it was not like this when I was there.

"If you forget your PE kit you should be punished, a detention maybe, but not this. They are not looking after their best interests."

Mrs Brown strongly denied the accusations. She said: "We actually have a policy that every child gets changed for PE whether they are playing or not. They act as either a coach or an umpire. It stops them being left by the side of the pitch.

"This child was not able to do anything because he forgot his kit. The weather was fine when they went down to the bottom field for athletics, but it started to rain while they were down on the pitch.

"We cannot leave children unsupervised, that is the situation at every school.

"She hasn't got a leg to stand on. I would be completely prepared to go head to head with her on this one. I'm afraid I've got no time for parents like her."

The school in Woodcock Road has a strong sporting emphasis and has achieved Sport England's Sportsmark Gold award.

Last October Kingdown received a £400,000 grant from the Sport England Lottery Fund towards building an artificial pitch at the school.