The headteacher of a west Cumbrian school has strongly rejected reports that his students were involved in an assault.

David Tromans, headteacher at Netherhall School, has written to parents and carers after Cumbria police issued an appeal for information, which was published by website Cumbria Crack.

The police's release said that a 12-year-old girl had been assaulted by teenage boys, believed to be from Netherhall School, on September 9 near the school.

A description of the suspects was also issued, suggesting they attended the sixth form.

But Mr Tromans said none of the sixth form students matched that description and refused any suggestion that they were involved. He said: "I met with all of the sixth form students, who were equally as shocked and appalled as me by the nature of the incident and the suggestion that any one in the sixth form could have been responsible. No one in the sixth form had witnessed anything of this nature taking place anywhere on Netherhall corner or Netherhall Road around 3pm on the day in question. I cross referenced this with other students throughout the school from every age group, no other student had witnessed anything of this nature either.

"As soon as the incident was reported to me, I contacted the parents and young person and arranged to meet with them at their earliest convenience, which was later that day. Fortunately, the young person was feeling much better and was able to look at the school photographs of all the sixth form students (these are the only students in school who wear the grey jumpers mentioned in the statement). No positive identification of any sixth form student responsible was made."

Mr Tromans added that he visited the scene several times to see if he could see anyone matching the description.

He added: "The only explanation is that the young people involved were not from Netherhall School. The Netherhall School sixth form students are a brilliant group of caring, hard-working, intelligent, honest, kind, considerate and fabulous young people, who I could not be more proud of."

A police spokesman said: “Our officers take all reports of assaults seriously and investigate allegations based on all the information presented to us. Issuing media appeals helps us gather information and ask for any potential witnesses to come forward.”