A teacher was forced to intervene as two “aggressive” women confronted pupils outside school gates in a clash that saw one boy told: “Go back to your country.”

Brodie Abbot, 33, and her sister, Michelle Sackett, 45, had gone to the Thanet secondary to challenge youngsters they suspected of bullying, but the situation quickly turned volatile.

An assistant deputy head jumped in as the pair hurled abuse at the pupils, with the incident leaving one teenage girl frightened to return to school.

Abbot and Sackett went on trial at Margate Magistrates’ Court this week and were convicted of using abusive, threatening or insulting words with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence.

Magistrates also found Abbot guilty of racially aggravated abuse after the court heard she screamed at a black schoolboy: “Go back to your country, you f*****g p***”

Sackett was acquitted of assault by beating after it was alleged she had spat at a pupil and attempted to headbutt her.

The sisters claimed the row escalated after the pupils started swearing and laughing at them, but the prosecution said the pair behaved like children themselves.

“You reduced yourselves to the level of teenagers, shouting obscenities outside a school,” said prosecutor Sidumiso Moyo.

“Not only that, you (Abbot) went on to make a racially charged remark towards one of them.”

Magistrates were told Abbot and Sackett arrived at the school - which cannot be named for legal reasons - on November 10 last year, just as pupils were leaving for the day.

As they clashed with a group of teenagers, an assistant deputy head stepped in to deescalate the altercation.

One schoolgirl, who can also not be named for legal reasons, gave the bench a tearful account of the incident, recalling how she and her friends were approached by Abbot and Sackett.

“We didn’t know what they were on about - we just wanted to go home but they just carried on and said racist stuff to my friend,” she said.

“The one with grey hair tried to headbutt me and spat at me. I started crying. My teacher tried to stop it, but they wouldn’t stop.

“Afterwards I felt scared to go to school in case they were there.”

The teacher who intervened also took the stand, and said the defendants behaved “extremely aggressively”.

“I felt scared to go to school in case they were there...”

“I was standing between the two females and the pupils behind me, holding my arms out,” he said.

“Both females were pushing towards me to to the point where physical contact was made.

“Ms Sackett on my right-hand side went to physically headbutt one of the students but I held her weight with my right arm to stop that from happening.

“It continued from that point, with Ms Sackett stepping backwards, and then she spat at the student in question.

“I then more firmly said ‘you need to go’.”

The teacher said he did not actually see any spittle leave Sackett’s mouth, but he did see saliva on the face of the pupil.

Abbot insisted she went to the school just to question the pupils.

“I went over to them calmly, but they started smirking and laughing and then all of the ‘f*** offs’ started coming out of their mouths,” said Abbot, of Ash Close, Broadstairs,

“I wasn’t going to be intimidated by a bunch of youths, so yeah, I started swearing back at them.”

The teenager and teacher testified they heard Abbot racially abuse a black schoolboy, but Abbot denied the allegation.

“I never said that. I may have told him to f**k off and go home, as you do,” she said.

When Sackett, of Whitehall Road, Ramsgate, gave evidence, she denied assault and said she only reacted to kids swearing at her.

“I didn’t spit at anybody - I don’t spit, I’m not a tramp,” she said.

“And I never said nothing to them until they started throwing f***s at me - I weren’t going to be spoke to like that.”

“I never said that. I may have told him to f**k off and go home, as you do...”

In closing speeches Abbot’s solicitor, Avtar Dohil, and Sackett’s representative, Manjit Tesse, said their clients were simply standing up for themselves.

Ms Dohil said: “They responded to what they had endured themselves.

“If you’ve got youths of that number shouting and swearing, Ms Abbot shouting and swearing back does not make her a criminal - that’s what normal people do.”

Mr Tesse described the women’s mission to confront the pupils as a “fool’s errand”, but sympathised with his client’s motivation for behaving badly.

“Kids in our society think they are untouchable, and if you convict Ms Sackett, you condone that,” argued Mr Tesse

“She stood up for herself and credit to her - if more people stood up for themselves maybe we would stand a chance against these youngsters.

“The youths don’t own the street and we shouldn’t allow them to take over.”

Pointing to inconsistencies and holes in witness’ testimonies, chief magistrate Sarah Bingham acquitted Sackett of assault by beating.

The sisters are due to reappear before the same court on November 24 to be sentenced.