A SCHOOL is warning students to stick together after three friends were kicked and punched in an unprovoked attack.

The boys, all 16 and students at Chaucer Technology School, Canterbury, were beaten up as they walked home along Spring Lane at about 3.30pm last Thursday.

One was taken to hospital with a badly cut and swollen face and will be off school for a week. His two friends were back at school the following day, both sporting black eyes.

The teenagers were with four other friends - three of them girls - when a gang of about eight youths started following them.

One of the youths approached the Chaucer School students near the junction with St Martin's Hill and attacked three of them, said police official Michael Ivatt.

Deputy head teacher David Pestell said the attack had been totally unprovoked.

"We believe it was something to do with them not agreeing with the victims' taste in music and clothes. It was basically bullying," he said. "Two of the boys were kicked while they were on the floor."

Mr Pestell said the school was extremely concerned about students' safety in light of the attack: "We have advised them to stay in groups as they walk home from school and let us know immediately if they feel threatened, but we are hoping it will not happen again."

Officers are appealing for witnesses to the attack and ask anyone who saw it to contact Det Sgt Jeff Vincett at Canterbury police station on 01227 762055 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Most members of the gang were wearing baseball caps and one was on a bike.

* An 18-year-old man has been charged in connection with the incident.