Primary school head calls emergency services and sends nine children to hospital because they had eaten seeds off tree in school grounds

Published: 13:35, 4 June 2026 | Updated: 13:45, 4 June 2026 Nine children were sent to hospital after a primary school head declared a medical emergency – because students had eaten seeds in the playground. Paramedics, police cars and a 'hazardous area response team' descended on Jesse Gray Primary School in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire at around 2pm on Wednesday. Students were rushed to Queen's Medical Centre, with eight ambulances seen on site. The school's head teacher, Chris Belton, has now confirmed the students were taken to hospital amid fears they had eaten from trees in the school grounds. He said: 'As a precaution, nine year 6 pupils were taken to the Queen's Medical Centre where they were monitored for several hours. 'All nine pupils were discharged after a short period and have since had no adverse reactions. 'I am delighted to say that all nine pupils are back in school today.'  Mr Belton said the area where the children were playing remains cordoned off following a 'professional inspection' by the school's ground maintenance team. The school's head teacher, Chris Belton, has now confirmed the students were taken to hospital amid fears they had eaten from trees in the school grounds Paramedics, police cars and a 'hazardous area response team' descended on Jesse Gray Primary School in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire He added a 'small number of trees' will be removed. It follows fears the children may have eaten 'poisonous berries'. One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Sun: 'It caused a bit of a panic, but I suppose the ambulance service can't be too careful when they get a call from a school saying kids have eaten strange berries. 'Thankfully it wasn't as serious as it might have looked at first. But any parent who hadn't heard what happened and then saw all the paramedics outside the school would have got a bit of a shock, and been incredibly worried. 'It was some of the older children, rather than the little ones. But they have been checked over, and are okay.' The parent said they expected there to be a 'few questions for the school about how the pupils got hold of them'. Nottinghamshire Police previously said officers had attended in a 'supportive capacity'. Mr Belton said today: 'This morning's school assembly reinforced the message of safe play and the dangers of eating berries or seeds from trees and shrubs. 'I would also like to commend the swift actions of Jesse Gray staff and the robust and prompt response from the emergency services.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.