UPSET and aggressive parents are ringing a school after receiving text messages from their children telling them about incidents during the day.

Now Anthony McNamara, head at St Augustine's RC High School, Billington, has written to parents about the disruption they are causing.

He said pupils were texting parents to claim they had been unfairly disciplined by teachers, while still sitting in class.

He warned parents he will be forced to ban mobiles if things don't improve. And he accused the parents involved of 'encouraging the flouting of rules and undermining of discipline'.

He said: "It is a disturbing trend we have discovered pupils texting parents when a pupil is being investigated over an incident.

"Staff have then been subjected to calls from upset or aggressive parents who have been given a partial or distorted account of what happened. No responsible parent should condone this behaviour. It disrupts lessons and school in general.

"Several schools have banned mobiles because of concerns over misuse and that is not a route I want to go down because I appreciate they can be useful.

"Around 90per cent of our pupils travel a long distance to school from rural areas like Dunsop Bridge so mobile phones can be very handy.

"But the rule in school is that they must not be used during school hours, including lunchtime.

"Parents have no need to contact their children without going through the school first."

He added that at the school's detention sessions, one or two pupils a week were being punished for mobile phone misuse.

Policies on mobile phones vary from school to school in East Lancashire. Some have opted for an outright ban, while others allow them but insist they must not be used during lesson time.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council, said: "There is no set guidance given to schools about mobile phones."