Primary Students Exposed To Pornography During ‘Paddington Bear’ Movie Screening

A group of year 5 children, aged between 9 and 10, at the Croft Academy, Walsall, West Midlands, in the U.K., were accidentally shown pornography during the screening of the movie “Paddington Bear,” on Friday.

A screening of “Paddington Bear” was held for the primary school children and a pornographic image accidentally appeared on the screen for a brief period of time. The movie was reportedly streamed online for the kids, the Independent reported.

The incident is believed to have been a result of a glitch with “web content filtering software.” An investigation has been launched into the matter.

“The issue has been reported to the trust, the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer), and the service provider, in accordance with academy procedures,” executive principal of the institution, Paul Edgerton, said. “An investigation is under way and to comment any further would be inappropriate at this point."

On the same day the incident happened, a letter was sent out to the respective parents of students who attended the screening by the head teacher informing them of the incident.

They were also assured that an investigation is under way to determine the exact cause of the incident. Teachers are due to hold a meeting with concerned guardians to discuss the matter.

Understandably, many of the parents were outraged after learning about the glitch and lashed out against the school for exposing their children to inappropriate material.

"I was absolutely disgusted to hear it from my child's mouth, to know he has been shown this,” one parent, who did not want to be named, said, Daily Star reported. “You do not expect to have it in a school, you try your best to prevent it at home.”

The parent added that the school should have thought twice before deciding to inform the guardians about the incident via a letter, sent through the children. “Parents are annoyed that we were made aware by giving a letter to the Year Five students, who can read, so it is not only wrong to see it but they have to repeat it,” the parent said.

The fuming parent also stated that after learning about the incident, the parent reached out to the school staff, asking them if they had watched the movie prior to showing it to the fifth graders and they hadn’t.

Some social media users wondered if the movie was streamed using an illegal site, causing a pornographic pop up to appear on the screen.

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (OFSTED), the British governmental body which inspects and regulates educational standards and child services, had listed the Croft Academy under institutions that required improvements.

However, an inspection of the school was conducted in September, which revealed that the institution had “successfully overcome many of the long-standing issues facing the school.”

According to the report of the last inspection, "senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement."