GCSE Day horror: Police scour Wootton Upper for bombs as more schools are evacuated due to same threats
This morning, on the first day of GCSE exams, thousands of pupils were evacuated in schools from Kent all the way up to Newcastle after a serious of anonymous phone calls.
Police have been forced to close primaries and secondaries while responding to the threats which have left parents panicked and confused.
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It was initially thought that the calls were isolated to a small number of schools in Kent but reports then emerged of disruption across the country - including Wootton Upper School.
At one school, “repeated” calls warned of a bomb on site and that “the shrapnel will take children’s heads off”.
Among the other school affected are:
Canterbury Academy, Kent
Barming Primary School, Maidstone
Voyager Academy, Peterborough
Discover Primary School, Peterborough
Oulder Hill School, Rochdale
Redwood School, Rochdale
Emsworth Primary School, Hampshire
Kingsham Primary School, Chichester
Whiteley Primary School, Fareham
Rosebrook Primary School, Stockton
Cranmere Primary School, Surrey
All the pupils at the Canterbury Academy in Kent were pulled from class, including 240 who were sitting a GCSE English exam.
The Canterbury parents received a text reading: “We have evacuated the school with police agreement following 3 phone calls regarding an explosive device. Lessons will resume tomorrow.”
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Meanwhile parents of Wootton students are worried their children may not be able to resit any abandoned exam papers.
“If they saw the paper and then were forced to leave the building. We concerned they may not be finish to take the exam at another date because they’ve already read the questions,” said one mum.