Boy, 15, arrested after teenage girl stabbed and school put into lockdown

Pupils were put into lockdown in their classrooms after a teenage girl was stabbed at a secondary school near Norwich.

The girl was taken to hospital with minor injuries after the attack at Thorpe St Andrew School, which happened at about 10.24am on Wednesday.

A 15-year-old white British boy was arrested nearby on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was taken to Wymondham police investigation centre for questioning.

There was a heavy police presence at the school on Wednesday afternoon including multiple marked cars and forensics vans, and paramedics were also on scene.

A gate to the school was cordoned off with blue and white police tape, and pupils in their school uniforms walked home in the early afternoon.

Letizia Brister, who is a student at the school, said a bell began to ring “continuously” while she was in a lesson and her teacher put a table against the door.

The 16-year-old, who spoke outside the school after pupils were allowed to go home, said she was “just shocked”.

“All of us as students had no idea what we were supposed to do in that situation, but the teachers and all the staff definitely knew what they were doing and I did feel quite safe, to be fair,” she said.

Her mother Emma Arnold, 34, said the teacher allowed Letizia to use her phone so she knew she was OK.

Her father Leon Brister, 35, said: “The communication wasn’t great but in terms of their protocol behind the gates they (the school) did an exceptionally good job of keeping the rest of the children safe.”

He said his first communication from the school was “just as the kids were dispersing, basically”, and described it as “two and a half hours of anguish just waiting, virtually being kept in the dark with no information”.

“When you’re standing outside and your flesh and blood is inside, you need to be kept in the loop a little bit better,” he said.

A spokesperson for Broad Horizons Education Trust, which runs Thorpe St Andrew, said the whole school was put into lockdown as a result of the incident.

“We have clear procedures in place and our staff acted swiftly, with the whole school going into lockdown, with children staying in their classroom with their teacher,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“One of our students was injured and is now being treated in hospital for minor injuries.

“This has obviously been a distressing experience for our whole community and our focus now is on making sure all students feel supported as we begin to understand what happened.”

The school, which was rated as good in its 2025 Ofsted inspection, is an 11-to-18 mixed secondary school which also includes a sixth form.

Norfolk Police added the incident is not believed to be linked to a hate crime reported at the school last week after allegations of antisemitic chanting during a football match involving a Jewish school.