A team of policemen was deployed outside a Kingston over fears that teenagers from other borough schools would converge en-masse to beat up its pupils.

Ten officers patrolled Tiffin School last Friday afternoon because of rumours that isolated attacks on year 10 boys earlier in the week were going to escalate into serious violence.

The incident outside one of the borough's most successful schools during national Anti-Bullying Week is believed to have been sparked by inflammatory comments put on a website chatroom by a Tiffin pupil.

The heavy police presence ensured there was no violence and the issue seems to have now died down.

John Heslop, headteacher of Tiffin School, in Queen Elizabeth Road, declined to make any comment on the issue yesterday.

An upper sixth Tiffin student, who did not want to be named, said: "Everyone went down to Cromwell Road Bus Station, there was no fight because there were too many police. Pretty much all the boys from our school went down to watch.

"There was supposed to be three schools. Some of the little kids were escorted home by the police officers."

Duncan Baxter, headteacher of Kingston Grammar School said it had been warned that a fight was going to take place.

He added: "We were told about it simply to make sure that our pupils were out of the way."

Continued on page 3 Two Tiffin year 10 boys were involved in a fight near the school last Tuesday one had his glasses smashed. Police were called, but by the time they arrived youngsters had fled from the scene.

One mother of a Tiffin pupil, who did not want to be named, said her son had been approached by a teenager from another school who asked whether he was in year 10. When he said he was not, the boy walked away.

One woman said: "A lot of parents are worried - they are aware of what's going on."

PC Mike Allberry of the Youth Involvement Team confirmed that it had received information from Tiffin School that "something was going to happen" outside on Friday.

He said: "There were concerns about something kicking off at the end of the day. We sent a high profile police presence outside the school. Police wearing bright yellow jackets were on foot patrol. It was all dealt with and no fighting broke out.

"It was just one of those things that is rumoured to happen on a regular basis involving various schools in the borough."Two Tiffin year 10 boys were involved in a fight near the school last Tuesday one had his glasses smashed. Police were called, but by the time they arrived, youngsters had fled from the scene.

One mother of a Tiffin pupil, who did not want to be named, said her son had been approached by a teenager from another school who asked whether he was in year 10. When he said he was not, the boy walked away.

One woman said: "A lot of parents are worried they are aware of what's going on."

PC Mike Allberry, of the Youth Involvement Team, confirmed that it had received information from Tiffin School that "something was going to happen" outside on Friday.

He said: "There were concerns about something kicking off at the end of the day.

"We sent a high-profile police presence outside the school. Police wearing bright yellow jackets were on foot patrol. It was all dealt with and no fighting broke out.

"It was just one of those things that is rumoured to happen on a regular basis involving various schools in the borough."