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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Thomas Molloy

School evacuated as police descend on area after bomb threat

Police are investigating after a bomb threat was made to a secondary school in Greater Manchester.

Officers were called to Golborne High School in Golborne, near Wigan, at lunchtime yesterday (Monday November 23) and the school was evacuated as a precaution.

According to headteacher, Alison Gormally, the school managed to get everyone evacuated within four seconds of activating its emergency procedures policy.

Mrs Gormally told Manchester Evening News : "We received a phone call at 12.21pm yesterday and the caller informed us that we had 30 minutes to evacuate the building before a bomb on the school premises would be detonated.

"This has never happened in my 15 years of being a headteacher and it would normally be very upsetting but the fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic, where there's a greater degree of anxiety, just makes it even more frightening.

"As a headteacher your priority has to be the safety of pupils and staff, as well as keeping them calm. As far as they were concerned, it was a fire alarm.

"It's just such selfish, dangerous behaviour in a climate when the only people who are going to suffer are the children. These children have suffered enough during a pandemic and they don't deserve to suffer anymore."

After searching the school, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are now treating the incident as a hoax and said there is "not believed to be any genuine threat to the school".

A GMP spokesman said: "Just after 12.20pm yesterday (23 November 2020), officers were called to a report of a threat made towards Golborne High School on Lowton Road in Golborne, Wigan.

"Officers have attended and enquiries are on-going.

"There is not believed to be any genuine threat to the school and officers are treating the incident as a hoax.

"The school was evacuated as a precautionary measure."

Golborne High School reopened this morning (Tuesday).

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