AN 11-year-old schoolboy was shot in the back of the head with a plastic pellet gun in a Bournemouth classroom.

An investigation has been launched at Winton Arts and Media College into the incident, which has led to the suspension of another Year 7 boy.

Details of the shooting have only just come to light after concerned parents contacted the Daily Echo.

The school has confirmed that a boy, who has not been identified, took a red plastic, toy gun which fires plastic pellets to school.

The circumstances of the incident are still under investigation but the boy is believed to have fired it in a classroom during a lesson, hitting a fellow pupil behind his ear.

The boy who fired the toy gun is not believed to have been in trouble at school before but has been at home since the incident on January 24.

The victim is believed to have returned to school the following day.

The Echo understands both sets of parents have been to the school to discuss the events and are happy with the way it has been dealt with.

Winton Arts and Media College is an all-boys school which was placed in special measures in October 2010.

Government inspectors criticised “uninteresting teaching”, slow pro-gress and an inconsistent approach to poor behaviour but monitoring visits since then have concluded the school is making improvements.

Headteacher Ben Parnell said: “The matter is under investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “Dorset Police have been informed of an incident on January 24 2012.

“Officers have liaised with the school and no complaints have been made to police. The school is dealing with the incident and will contact police if appropriate.”

Views from outside the college gates

• Grandmother Pamela Povey from London said: “It’s terrible. I’m really shocked to hear about this.

“It could have had caused terrible damage if the victim had been shot in the eye.”

•Taxi driver Ray Smith, 63, who lives in Branksome, said: “It’s very worrying to think that something like this can happen inside a school.

“I’m surprised the boy concerned managed to get the toy gun into school.”

• Portuguese Rafael Goncalves, 29, and his wife Sonia, 35, who live in Charminster also expressed their horror.

Rafael said: “There should be a policy banning children from bringing items like toy guns into schools.”