Seventeen schoolchildren were taken to hospital yesterday after they ate daffodils and became sick.

The pupils fell ill after eating leaves and petals at lunchtime at St Peter and St Paul Church of England School in Bexhill.

Teachers at the school in Buckhurst Road are understood to have raised the alarm after one of the children, who were aged between eight and ten, began vomiting.

The group were taken to the Conquest Hospital five miles away in Hastings and treated by medics before being discharged with a warning to contact them again if they continued to feel ill.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Ambulance Service said: "Around lunchtime, we received a call that children at the school were suffering stomach pains.

"Eight of them had said they had eaten daffodils and were feeling sick. One child had been vomiting.

"Someone at the school had spoken to NHS Direct and they said the children should go to hospital."

A spokesman for the hospital said: "Seventeen children aged eight to ten were brought in this afternoon. They were seen by paediatricians and were then discharged and told if they felt sick again they should contact the hospital.

"We understand that some of them had eaten leaves and petals and that can make people feel unwell."

The school declined to comment last night but confirmed the incident took place on the grounds.