Stanbridge Earls: Parents call for £39,000-a-year boarding school to be closed down as police launch investigation into alleged sex attacks on girls Tribunal found school failed to protect 15-year-old girl School failed to tell parents daughter had been treated for genital injuries Police investigating allegations up to 10 girls were sexually assaulted The parents of a girl who was allegedly assaulted at a private boarding school have called for it to be closed down. A police investigation is underway following allegations that up to 10 girls were raped or sexually abused by pupils at Stanbridge Earls school, in Hampshire. The alarm was raised at the school, which specialises in teaching pupils with learning difficulties including dyslexia and dyscalculia, in January after a tribunal found it had failed to protect a 15-year-old girl from grooming and abuse by pupils, according to the Sunday Times. Police are investigating allegations that up to 10 girls were raped or sexually abused by pupils at Stanbridge Earls school, in Hampshire The girl, who is now 17 and is on the autistic spectrum, was allegedly assaulted before she complained to staff of 'pain down below', and was taken to see a GP who treated her for genital injuries. Her parents were not told by the school. The teenager told her mother after she returned home at the end of term in July 2011 and told her she had been raped, the Sunday People has reported. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal found not enough had been done to protect the girl, despite her telling staff she felt suicidal. The headmaster Peter Trythall told the tribunal text messages between the girl and boys were 'normal text for children of this age'. However, the tribunal decided the texts were clear attempts to groom the girl and that sexual intercourse could not have been consensual, at the age of 15, as a matter of criminal law. Mr Trythall was accused of 'bordering on contempt for statutory duties', the tribunal found, according to the Sunday People. Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, has demanded talks on measures to improve the situation at the school Meanwhile, the tribunal also said the failure of the school was 'beyond comprehension' and the parents were awarded £86,000 costs and an apology. A copy of the findings were also send to the education secretary. Police have now set up Operation Flamborough to investigate the alleged assaults at the school, which charges between £27,000 and £39,000 a year. According to the Sunday Times, Melinda Nettleton, the solicitor acting for the family in the tribunal said evidence presented at the hearing suggested inappropriate sexual behaviour against more than 10 girls. The parents of the girl have now called for the school to be closed. They told the paper: 'The fact that our daughter was not the only vulnerable underage girl subject to sexual intercourse was, and is, shocking to us. The secretary of state has the power to close this school. We would like him to exercise that power to enable the school to be rebuilt under a new management team. Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, has demanded talks on measures to improve the situation at the school. And Labour MP Tom Watson said: 'I am calling on Michael Gove to urgently examine the safeguarding issues that surround the school.' A spokesman for the school said the school has acted 'swiftly and comprehensively to address the shortcomings identified by the tribunal in January'. The spokesman said: 'The case that gave rise to the tribunal was distressing, complicated and unusual, and in no way illustrative of the way the school normally meets the needs of its pupils. It is a specialist school for children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia, though some of the pupils have additional special needs, and has consistently been rated outstanding by Ofsted and the ISI. The school deeply regrets that it failed the pupil and immediately wrote to apologise to her at the end of the tribunal. The other case is unrelated to her, and the current claims vary significantly from the records of what took place when the incident was first reported in 2010. The spokesman said Hampshire County Council's safeguarding team had meetings with the school's pupils which established the school was a 'safe and happy environment' and that the pupile in general had not done anything wrong and were not suspected of having done so. The spokesman said: 'The school has met with the Department for Education and has submitted a detailed action plan concerning how it is remedying the issues highlighted by the tribunal. It has engaged outside experts and acted swiftly and transparently at all times to ensure that there can be no repeat of the circumstances that led to the tribunal. Hampshire police has confirmed it is conducting a 'comprehensive review into previous allegations' involving the school. The force has said the review will 'assess the police investigation into allegations of two serious sexual assaults between July and September 2011 and further information provided by the girl and her family to establish if further criminal offences were committed in respect of the victim or other children'. It will also 'progress the police investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of a second girl between September and December 2010' as well as investigating 'any new allegations in respect of the school that come to light and establish whether further police investigations are required'. The review will also 'assess the findings of a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal in line with a previous criminal investigation into allegations of perverting the course of justice by Stanbridge Earls School and identity if any criminal offences were committed'. A police spokesman said: 'We are in contact with the families of the two girls who previously made allegations of abuse and are updating them with the progress of the review in respect of their individual allegations. Through the course of the review, the force is working with partners including Hampshire County Council and the Crown Prosecution Service. The review is ongoing and we will not be providing further details about any new allegations or further victims that may come to light as a result until we are in a clearer position to do so.