London

On Friday a dozen schoolchildren were kept at home for their own safety in just one year group at a school in Merton. In Haringey, teachers increased their usual patrols outside at kicking-out time. In Forest Hill, a boys’ school cancelled its after-school clubs and warned children that if they were spotted at Lewisham Shopping Centre, they’d be expelled. Schools across the capital have been finishing early.

All of these incidents, described to London Centric in recent days, were prompted by viral online posts warning of “red vs blue school wars” that are supposedly under way across the capital.