Craigieburn’s Aitken Creek Primary School is one of several Victorian schools to be evacuated after receiving threatening “automated” phone calls in what appears to be a co-ordinated hoax bomb threat in two states and other parts of the world.
Aitken Creek Primary School pupils were evacuated to Hume Global Learning Centre this morning after the school received the phone calls about 10am.
Mother of three Sawsan Hanna was bringing her youngest child in for an interview for prep around lunchtime and was a told to go home as the school had been locked down.
“I was terrified when they told me to go home,” she said.
“My older two children were still inside the school.
“I tried to come in to the grounds later but the police were everywhere and they told me to go away.”
Other parents said they were satisfied with the way the school handled the evacuation.
It’s understood that the children were not made aware of the threats but were told it was a drill.
All of the parents Star Weekly spoke to found out about the incident through friends or Facebook.
Parent Tracey Wijetunje said a friend called her and told her that police had surrounded the school.
“We didn’t receive any calls from the school but as soon as my friend told me what was going on I just came straight down,” she said.
“I think the school handled it very well because when I asked my daughter what had happened she said she didn’t know.
“Had my daughter known she would have freaked out.
“I do think that parents should be contacted in times like this.
“We need to know what’s going on with out kids.”
Amanda Rinda said that parents were allowed to sign their children out early or wait until after school to take them home.
“My son Adrian is coming home,” she said as they left the school grounds.
“It’s been a very exciting and scary day for both of us.
“Not the best first day at school.”
Widespread evacuations
The Victorian schools were among several across the country to receive bomb threats on Friday morning.
Berwick Chase Primary and Berwick Lodge Primary School in Berwick,Cowes Primary School on Phillip Island and Reservoir High School in Reservoir were among those evacuated on Friday morning.
“The schools are being evacuated as a precaution,” Victoria Police said shortly before 1pm.
“We are aware that schools in a number of other states and countries have received similar phone calls in the past 24 hours.”
A spokesman for Victoria’s Department of Education said the incidents were being taken “very seriously”.
“A number of schools have received threatening phone calls this morning,” the spokesman said.
“The safety and wellbeing of our students is always our number one priority. All schools have emergency management plans which include evacuation plans, and the affected schools have enacted their plans this morning.”
Several schools across Sydney have also been evacuated after receiving bomb threats.
Threats were made on Friday morning against schools in Mona Vale on Sydney’s northern beaches, Woolooware in Sydney’s south, and at Richmond and Penrith in Sydney’s west.
The threats are understood to have been made between 10.50am and 11.10am.
Police in NSW confirmed that police operations were taking place simultaneously at schools across Sydney.
with The Age
