Additional reporting by Simon Finlay

A secondary school’s IT system has been hacked, with parents warned student data has been compromised.

St Augustine’s Academy in Maidstone says its phones and emails are still down after the breach, which began yesterday.

The school principal, Jason Feldwick, described it as “a serious IT breach” in a Facebook message to parents.

He said: “The school systems and data have been encrypted by an outside criminal organisation.

“The external WisePay system is secure, but the internal student data and parental information has been encrypted.”

He warned all parents of the academy’s 757 students to “Please be extra vigilant if you receive any unusual emails or phone calls.”

All the school’s phone lines and emails are currently down. Any inquiries should be directed to the Woodard Academies Trust, which manages the school, on 020 3397 5100.

But Mr Feldwich appealed: “Please only phone in the event of an emergency.”

He said: “We are working to resolve the issue and hopefully will be back up and running soon.”

The Woodard Academies Trust has been contacted for comment.

Local Liberal Democrat county councillor Chris Passmore said: "It just goes to show that absolutely no one is safe from cyber attacks and emphasises the need for vigilance against them.

"I will be keep a close eye of developments."

Muhammad Yahya Patel, lead security engineer at cyber security company Check Point Software said: “The education sector continues to be a prime target for hackers due to the mass amount of sensitive information they house, and the lack of funding often allocated to integrating preventative cybersecurity measures.

"We unfortunately expect this to be an upwards trend as cyber criminals continue to increase the quantity of phishing and ransomware attacks.

“For any affected parents or children, it’s important during this time to be extra critical of any communications that may appear to be coming from the school”.

The school, at the Oakwood Park campus off Tonbridge Road, was formerly known as the Astor of Hever.