120 pupils of Bembridge Primary School were sent home after their classrooms were invaded by dozens of venomous false widow spiders on 4th October 1995.
The Church of England school was forced to close after one of the tropical spiders bit a classroom assistant, leaving her with a massive bruise.
Headmaster Harry Kirby also found 10 of the dangerous arachnids hiding in his filing cabinet.
The spiders – which measured just half-an-inch long – were identified as steatoda noblis – ‘the false widow spider’ – by experts at Cambridge University. The creepy crawlies originally came from the Canary Islands but were starting to establish themselves in the South of England.
The following day, pest controllers from Rentokil in Bournemouth visited the school and used insecticide to kill the unwanted intruders lurking in the school’s dark recesses and cupboards.
Pupils and staff were urged to remain vigilant as an information sheet was sent to all Island schools with a telephone helpline set up.
The school was closed for 3 days while the problem was dealt with. However, a spider expert warned that pesticides would not be effective against the arachnids as spiderlings would find places in which they could survive, and that the school would have to learn to live with the spiders.
Did you go to Bembridge Primary and were you sent home 30 years ago? Let us know in the comments…
Remind me not to hire Rentokil: insecticides to kill spiders? Count the legs …