Holly Lodge Girl’s College in West Derby was placed in lockdown after an email threat caused panic, with Merseyside Police called in to investigate until safe for students to leave
A Liverpool girls’ school was forced into emergency lockdown following a threat emailed to them.
Parents and carers of pupils at Holly Lodge Girl’s College received urgent text messages at 2.55pm on Monday (January 19) alerting them to the closure.
Merseyside Police later determined the threat was bogus, allowing students at the West Derby institution on Mill Lane to return home safely.
The messages, obtained by the Liverpool Echo, read: “Please be aware, the school has been placed in lockdown whilst we investigate an incident on site.
“This will mean that your daughter will be kept in school after the school day until we are sure students are safe to leave.”
A subsequent text at 3.25pm confirmed it was now secure for pupils to depart as normal. Headteacher Andy Keen then penned a letter to families yesterday evening explaining the situation.
Mr Keen wrote: “I am writing to clarify the situation that occurred at the end of the school day today. The school was made aware of a potential incident late this afternoon in the form of an emailed non- specific threat.
“Following advice from the police, we asked that students stayed in their classroom, together with their teacher until we could be sure there was no risk to them.
“As we would expect, our students conducted themselves impeccably and were calm and sensible throughout. We are very proud of them and we are proud of the way our staff looked after them.
“Our leadership team and staff followed all advice and once the police had established that there was no danger and our students were safe, we were able to allow them to go home.”
Mr Keen revealed that bogus threats had targeted other schools across the city in recent weeks. He added: “The threat was a hoax, but I am sure you appreciate that we cannot and will not do anything that will jeopardise our students’ safety. This is not the first incident of this nature, which has happened to Liverpool schools recently.
“I would also like to reassure you that, as you are probably aware, schools have very secure visitor access control, and it is highly unlikely that an unexpected visitor would be able to access the school unchallenged.
“Local authority staff regularly visit schools and are aware of the security that schools have in place. It is also an aspect of any safeguarding reviews of schools, which are conducted regularly.
“We understand the potential distress and alarm such threats cause parents, who understandably are worried about their children. Sadly, such threats to schools are not unusual and are designed to cause disruption and worry.
“However, I can assure you that the police and other authorities have given the school the best possible advice and our leadership team acted professionally, followed our critical incident plan and followed police advice, in the best interests of your child and all members of the school community.
“There is no evidence to suggest that this incident was anything other than a hoax. This means that all students should be in school, as normal tomorrow (Tuesday).
“We will speak to students tomorrow morning and remind them who they can talk to if today’s events have made them feel anxious in any way. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this matter.”
A representative from Merseyside Police confirmed: “We can confirm officers attended Holly Lodge Girls’ College in West Derby following a report of malicious communications.
“At around 2.30pm yesterday (Monday, January 19), we received a report that someone had sent a hoax email to the school.
“If you have any information, you can call 101 or DM @MerpolCC on social media, quoting log number 528 of 19th January. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
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