Wickersley School alert after "bomb threat" email

Police were called to Wickersley School and Sports College after staff received noticed an email which “contained a bomb threat to the school”.

The “threat” was classified as a hoax by police, who cleared the school to open at 10am.

Head Elaine Renevant said in an email to parents: “In the early hours of the morning, an email was sent to our contact us email account, which was picked up by a member of staff at 5.30am. 

“The email contained a bomb threat to the school.

“Police were called, have been on site, and classified the threat as a hoax.

“Fortunately, this was dealt with before anyone entered the site 

“We made the decision to delay the start of the school day as we did not know how long it would take for the police to give us the all clear.”

The school said in a post on Facebook that the late opening was due to an "on-site issue".

It later added in a statement: "The police dealt with the incident quickly and efficiently and we trust that they will endeavour to find who was behind this hoax.

"School is open as usual to pupils.

"If anyone has any information on who may be behind the hoax email, please contact the police on 101."

Parents commenting on social media called the hoaxer “sick and twisted”.

One told the Advertiser: “It’s very scary in this day and age.

“There will be lots of worried parents today even if it was a hoax.”

A police spokeswoman said: “Officers were called at 5:45am today,  to Wickersley School in Rotherham following threats being made. 

“Due to the nature of the threats, children attended school later as a precautionary measure, while searches were conducted. “

Chief Insp Paul Ferguson added: “We take incidents of malicious communications extremely seriously — they divert valuable police resources and time away from other emergencies, as well as causing worry to the public. 

“We would like to reassure you that this will be taken seriously and a full investigation will take place.”