An eight-year-old girl is traumatised after being attacked by a man in the playground of her Melbourne primary school.

The man kicked the girl and tried to take off her clothes as she waited to be picked up by her parents after school on Thursday.

Police issued this photofit of a man wanted for questioning.

The girl was on her way to the toilet when she was grabbed, Detective Senior Constable Alexia Bieser said.

“He grabbed her by the left wrist and had dragged her to a secluded area of the playground,” Det Sen Const Bieser told reporters on Tuesday.

“From there he has tried to punch her, he’s kicked her and has sworn at her.

“He appeared to be angry, was growling and yelling at her.”

The man, aged in his 20s, unzipped the girl’s top before she managed to get away.

She saw him run from the front gates of the Hawthorn school. The girl kept the incident a secret until Friday.

“We know the little girl was very distressed and was scared the man would follow her home,” Det Sen Const Bieser said.

“She thought if she kept it to herself she’d feel safer.

“She is very traumatised at this point.”

The girl suffered bruising and scratches to her legs, and has since returned to school.

Glenferrie Primary School principal Sue O’Sullivan said security measures at the school would be ramped up, and stranger danger lessons would be run for students.

“It’s very distressing to think one of our children was not safe on school property,” Mrs O’Sullivan said.

“We ask any parent who may have seen this person, or knows this person, to come forward and contact police.”

No teachers saw the incident and there is no security camera vision.

The man is described as Caucasian, aged in his 20s with blue eyes and short, blond hair which was shaved or closely cropped on one side.

He was wearing black pants, a black hoodie and Van brand sneakers with red stripes.