Terrified children at a Watford school were forced to evacuate the playground after a rampant squirrel caused havoc in the grounds.

A teacher had to herd the children at Chater Infants School back into the safety of the building after an "unusually aggressive" grey squirrel disrupted their afternoon playtime earlier this month.

One member of staff was scratched by the squirrel during the encounter.

Headteacher at the Southsea Avenue school, Mrs Bal-Richards, said they were monitoring the situation and the caretaker is being extra vigilant, but fortunately the squirrel has not been sighted again.

She said: "We did have an incident where we had a squirrel. It is very uncommon for a squirrel to be a little aggressive. It was a little bit tempered. We will be monitoring the situation and the caretaker is being extra vigilant.

"We talked to the children at an assembly the following day to say some times animals can be aggressive and a bit tempered and what to do if that happens."

Mrs Bal-Richards said it was procedure to take pupils inside if there is an issue to make sure they were safe.

She said: "We would obviously make sure if there was an issue around the children and they were becoming frightened, we do advise teachers take children back into the school and make sure they are safe.

"The incident was a couple of weeks ago, since then we have not actually seen the squirrel.

"As is the case with cats, dogs, rabbits when they do come into contact with a human, they do have sharp claws."

None of the children were injured by the squirrel.

Mrs Bal-Richards added: "Safeguarding children is paramount. It is uncommon for a squirrel to actually demonstrate aggressive behaviour but we are aware of the situation."