Te Puke Primary School back to normal following bomb threat

A police car blocks Kowhai Ave after police received a call from someone claiming there was a bomb at Te Puke Primary School.

Pupils at Te Puke Primary School were happily taking part in the school cross country on Tuesday morning as if nothing unusual had happened the day before.

But 24 hours earlier they were in Te Puke High School, having been evacuated. They didn't know it at the time, but around 9.30am on Monday, police had been advised there was a bomb at the primary school.

Police searched the school and found nothing of interest, but there were no more classes for the rest of the day.

On Monday afternoon police and the Ministry of Education gave the go-ahead for the school to reopen.

''We let the community know as soon as that came through, that we would be open for business as usual,'' said principal Andrea Dance.

At first, the reason for the evacuation wasn't disclosed.

''The school was being guided by police and [asked] to not give out information that might cause mass panic,'' Andrea said. ''That was really important because we had to rule it out before we put that out there. We had, not many, but a few wanting to know the why.''

The message though, was the students were safe.

''We had to take the measures we did and our staff and children's safety was at the forefront of everything and I believe we managed that very well.''

Feedback Andrea received at the school cross country on Tuesday was positive.

''The community there were very happy with how it was managed and the good communication that came through.

''That's what I go by, just being down at cross country this morning, that the children were happy and that there was a calm. [Families] were just very happy that the children were evacuated quickly and the children were safe and happy.''

Andrea said the community was very supportive.

''There wasn't any hysteria and they followed the directives.''

Staff also followed instructions quickly.

''I have high praise for my staff and also praise for the staff at Te Puke High School, who opened their doors for us.''

Other principals from Te Puke and further afield sent messages for support and offers of help.

The Lunches in Schools meals normally sent to Te Puke Primary School were diverted to Fairhaven School.

After being initially evacuated to the high school field, the primary school pupils were taken to the high school hall.

Primary school teacher Roni Sayer said it was then a case of keeping them occupied until they could be collected.

''First of all it was getting them calm and settled and, of course some kids were unsettled because it was unknown and unusual.

''We do a whole-school kapa haka, so we got the guitars out and did some singing, the kids stood up and told some jokes and because it's Samoan Language Week we did some Samoan language games.

''The high school were amazing and embraced us and took us in and not once did we feel we were inconveniencing anybody .''

Roni says Andrea coped ''beautifully''.

''When she was giving us instructions she was very clear and calm and didn't give a whole lot of instructions all at once. Even though we didn't know what was going on, it was calmly done and I didn't realise the urgency until we walked out of the school grounds and there were police [there].''

Andrea had not experienced a school bomb scare before but had experience of school lockdowns while deputy principal at Albany Junior High School.

''You don't really run drills for children with bomb threats because they have to be run by police. And the police were fantastic to deal with,'' she said.

In a statement on Tuesday morning, police said they completed a search at a Te Puke Primary School on Monday and nothing of interest was found.

"Police take these matters seriously and continue to make inquiries to determine the origin of the threat," the statement said.

Anyone with information about the threat, and who hasn't already spoken with police, can contact their nearest police station.

Alternatively, information can be left anonymously via the Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 line.