WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Parents are demanding answers.

A five-year-old girl has been allegedly sexually assaulted by a group of boys at the playground of a school.

The child is alleged to have been surrounded by a group at the school on March 7. Details were shared by horrified parents on a WhatsApp group, and the matter has been reported to police.

The girl, it is alleged, was sickeningly “touched and scratched inside”. She was also “grabbed” and had her underwear “forcibly removed”.

The message shared by parents reads: “Her injuries were so severe that we had to take her to the hospital, where she needed local anesthetics to urinate for several days.” The parent has claimed teachers at the school in Sydney, Australia, cleaned blood off the child’s legs, but did not tell parents.

The parent also claimed they had raised concerns about one of the boys hitting their daughter and the other children repeatedly but that “the school took no action beyond limiting playground time”.

The school principal said in an announcement: “Recently an allegation was made around the inappropriate conduct of some of our students. This matter has been reported to police, and the Department of Education have been informed of the allegations.

“As these allegations are under investigation by police and the Department of Education, we are not able to provide any further information at this time.”

As reported in the Mirror, the New South Wales Department of Education said: “The safety and wellbeing of students are our highest priorities, and any allegations of inappropriate behaviour are promptly investigated.”

Police investigated the incident but took no further action.

A police spokesperson said: “Following investigations, police have referred the incident to the Department of Communities and Justice and the Department of Education.”

An organisation that looks into how allegations of inappropriate conduct towards children are investigated is looking into the incident, according to the Department of Education. A group of boys from the school were not present for a number of days following the announcement from the principal, it is understood.

The parent of a Year One pupil complained that it was “not the first time” the playground had been left unsupervised. “The information has been very vague,” she said.

She said there had been an incident last year in which a grandmother confronted a child on the playground with no teacher present. “At least last year, the school informed us in detail about the incident in an announcement…” She added: “We want to know what happened.”