Ash Wednesday markings give pupils chemical burns

PARENTS are considering legal action after an Ash Wednesday service at a Catholic school left 90 pupils and staff with chemical burns.

Two pupils were admitted to hospital and scores more were burned after a priest marked crosses on assembly-goers’ foreheads as part of the ceremony at a top-performing school.

A total of 73 students, 16 staff and the chair of the governors were burned after being marked with the ash as a token of penitence and mortality during the ritual at Saint Augustine’s Catholic High School in Redditch, Worcs.

The priest, assisted by two students, began marking pupils’ foreheads. But the ritual was stopped half way through when children complained of “tingling”, Cassena Brown, 39, the mother of a badly burnt pupil, said.

The students were asked to wash the ashes off immediately, the school said.

“But when some of the kids wiped it off, it ripped the skin off as well. It was red raw,” Mrs Brown said. “They should have been sent to a medical professional, not given a perfumed wet wipe.”

Parents have said they are considering taking legal action against the school after medics told one of them the “chemical burn” would likely leave scarring.

“My son was the worst of everyone. Because he is of Afro-caribbean heritage you can see the burn very clearly, as the skin is burned and it’s white underneath,” Mrs Brown said.

The school said that the ashes are being analysed by external experts.