THE parent of a child who was allegedly the victim of a sexual assault by another youngster has criticised a school’s approach to dealing with the incident.

An investigation is underway after the alleged sexual assault on a child at a school in Darlington earlier this month.

Durham Police confirmed last night they were looking into the incident, but the mother of the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been critical of how the incident was dealt with.

She claims the school, which cannot be named for legal reasons, did not immediately contact her to inform her of what had happened.

And she says that it wasn’t until her child was picked up from school 90 minutes after the incident that she and her husband became aware of the allegation.

She also claims when she questioned staff at the school about why there had been a delay in contacting her in a meeting days later, they “didn’t have an answer”.

Speaking to The Northern Echo, she said: “ It should not have taken this long for us to be made aware of what happened.

“Ninety minutes is far too long, it wasn’t until my child was picked up that we first knew what had happened.

“There was no phone call, and there should have been.”

A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary confirmed that the force had been made aware of the incident and were investigating.

The spokesperson said: “We received a call earlier this month reporting a sexual assault on a child.

“Enquiries are on-going.”

A spokesperson for the school in question declined to comment.