Parents were left shocked when their children returned home and told them "cameras" had been installed in the toilets of their school.

Headteacher at Heathfield Junior School, Paul Clayton, admitted “dummy cameras” aimed at deterring vandalism had been installed.

Parents received no letters to inform them of the decision, however.

Vanessa Chapman, the grandmother of one eight-year-old pupil, said when she contacted Heathfield Junior school to raise her concerns she was told the cameras were just air fresheners.

Ms Chapman, 50, of Ferney Meade Way, said she found out about the dummies when her granddaughter told her about her concerns.

She said: “There must have been about 20 of us who came to the school this morning (Thursday, May 26) concerned about this.

Your Local Guardian:

Vanessa Chapman and a photograph of one of the "cameras"

“At first they categorically denied they were cameras and said they were air fresheners, but we were able to get photos.

“A lot of the children were obviously very scared about it.”

The school's website states its aim is to create an environment that makes the children feel "successful, safe and valued."

The school was given a "Good" rating in its last Ofsted inspection, in May 2014.

A mother of two children at the school, who did not wish to be named, said she thought though it may have been misguided she could understand why parents may not have been informed.

She said: “It has actually worked, it has stopped vandalism in the toilets.

“Children in junior school are more than capable of reading and their parents might have told them, so that would defeat the point.

“They have got CCTV across the school which they use for different purposes. Obviously none of that CCTV is anywhere inappropriate.

“The school is an excellent school and they work really hard to communicate with the parents.”

The school’s executive headteacher, Paul Clayton, said the cameras, which were non-functioning fakes, had been taken down immediately.

He said: “There were some dummy cameras in some washrooms but we have removed them now.

“There had been some damage done in a couple of washrooms and staff put some dummy cameras in there.

“They were on the sinks, not the cubicles, and there are no urinals in those toilets.

“Even if they were proper cameras they would never cover the cubicles, anyway.”

Mr Clayton said he needed to investigate further as to why parents had not been informed about the installation.

Ms Chapham said she had been told the cameras had been installed to stop young boys urinating in the sinks.

She said: “I don’t think that warrants putting a camera in the toilet, real or fake.

“I find that very extreme.”