A PRIMARY school head teacher has denied assaulting a teaching assistant  following an incident in which a fire extinguisher went off in her face.

Jerome McCormack, head at Christ the King Roman Catholic Primary School in Amesbury, pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault at Salisbury magistrates’ court today (Friday).

The matter will now go to a trial before magistrates in Chippenham next March.

It came after the fire extinguisher went off in a teaching assistant's face during a fire safety demonstration in May.

The member of staff sought medical attention and the incident was reported to the police.

As previously reported by the Journal, the trade union for school support staff, GMB, called for Mr McCormack to be suspended while an investigation into the "extraordinary and disturbing" incident was carried out.

The school did not respond to the Journal's requests for comment.

GMB Southern said it had been "very concerned that the school governors, Wiltshire Council HR, and the Catholic Diocese off Clifton have failed to treat this matter with the seriousness it deserved".

The union had previously called for the Bishop of Clifton, the Right Reverend Declan Lang, to intervene at the school.