Auckland’s Peninsula Primary School in Te Atatū Peninsula lockdown over ‘suspicious’ man

An Auckland school was locked down this morning.

A school went into lockdown after a partially naked man was spotted walking through its grounds, police say.

Peninsula Primary School children were kept in their classrooms and police were on-site, the Te Atatū Peninsula school wrote on its website about 10am, warning parents to stay away.

The lockdown had now ended, but police remained at the school “keeping us all safe”, the school wrote about an hour later.

“We have completed our lockdown and all students, staff and persons on-site are safely accounted for.

“Everyone did extremely well and responded to instructions. Our gates will remain locked during playtime.”

Police responded to reports of a man acting suspiciously on school grounds at the school, a spokesperson said.

“Initial reports were made around 10am, which included suggestions the man was partially naked.

“He has not entered any buildings but walked through the grounds ... the man has been apprehended and is helping police with their inquiries.”

The school decided to lockdown as a precautionary measure, police said.

During the lockdown pupils were kept in their classrooms and were able to continue “with their learning”, the school wrote on its website.

At that time the school asked parents not to phone or come to the school.

“You will not be attended to and this may cause disruption to the management of this incident and could potentially place yourselves and/or our staff and student’s safety at risk.”