A British science teacher has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an alleged classroom assault on a 14-year-old boy, police say.

Peter Harvey, 49, was accused of striking a student named Jack Waterhouse apparently with a workout weight during an argument at All Saints Roman Catholic school in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The boy was said to have suffered serious head injuries, SkyNews reported.

Harvey is also being questioned about alleged assaults on two other students at the same time. Neither was badly hurt, officers said.