THE headteacher of a Newport secondary school has said the safety of his pupils is his "number one priority" following two violent incidents involving pupils at the school yesterday.

Neil Davies, who leads Lliswerry High School, said in a further letter to parents today (Tuesday, April 25) that one incident had taken place on school grounds - with the other off campus.

"There were two incidents on Monday involving some of our learners," he said.

"They gained a lot of attention on social media yesterday evening."

The first incident, he explained, was a fight which had been arranged between two learners to take place at break time on Monday.

"Social media had been used over the weekend by the two boys involved in order to organise this and staff on duty quickly intervened to stop the incident," he explained.

"The mobile phone footage shared by some showed one of the learners wanting to continue the fight and staff stopping him from doing so, as is their duty of course.

"There were a large number of learners in the vicinity as it was break time and the yard was busy."

He stressed that "any act of verbal or physical aggression is treated very seriously and is totally unacceptable".

The pupils involved are currently not in school and Mr Davies said he is liaising with the council to ensure that "appropriate action is taken as a result of their actions".

The police have also been involved.

Mr Davies has appealled to parents of pupils at the school to"talk to their children about the use of social media and highlight the importance of safety, appropriate use and the potential implications of things said and shared on such platforms".

"Social media continues to be one of the main causes of issues in schools and we will continue to address this," he said.

The second incident, Mr Davies said, involved a Lliswerry Comprehensive pupil being assaulted, outside school hours at the SDR bus stop, near Spytty Stadium.

"There is no suggestion that the people involved in the assault are Lliswerry High School learners," he said, "thankfully our learner was released from hospital yesterday.

"We have today shared information with the police which we believe will greatly support in identifying the assailants and bringing them to justice."

The two incidents, he noted, are "completely unrelated".

He assured parents that "your child’s safety remains our number one priority in school".

"I thank you for your continuing support and understanding."