PARENTS of pupils at a school where two teenagers have been found guilty of plotting a Columbine-style shooting have voiced anger over the handling of an alleged serious incident said to have taken place last year.

The incident, which cannot be reported due to concerns it could break a court ruling that the children and the school should retain anonymity, triggered alarm among parents ahead of the children’s arrest by counter-terrorism police.

However, they claim the school in Northallerton, which is run by North Yorkshire County Council, issued a misleading letter to parents over the incident.

“The school tried to play it all down, but there was a lot of concern about how this incident was handled,” one parent, whose name is withheld, said.

Other parents said in light of the alleged incident and the guilty verdicts, the confidence they had in information given to them from the councils’ schools had been shaken.

It is understood at least one complaint about the handling of the incident was later made to the director of children’s services at the council.

Despite parents’ ongoing concerns, the authority yesterday declined to answer claims parents had been misled or comment on the incident.

The council said to do so would pre-empt the findings of a ‘Learning Lessons Review’ by the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board executive, which includes the authority’s children’s services director and a senior North Yorkshire Police officer.

The review will examine how the multi-agency arrangements worked before and during the case and will consider areas for development.

A council spokeswoman said she also could not comment about whether it had conversed with North Yorkshire Police at the time about the incident.

She said: “The review will look into a wide-ranging number of issues and therefore we will comment further when we have the outcomes of that review.”

Asked about policy on communications with parents, the spokeswoman said: “There are national standards expected of headteachers and school governance for all schools which include having systems and procedures that are fit for purpose and which ensure among other priorities the safeguarding of pupils as well as excellence in teaching and learning.”

The council also declined to detail whether or with whom the school had contacted at the authority following the alleged incident, adding schools were not accountable to the authority for all the information given to parents.

She said: “Although headteachers, supported by governors, are regarded as lead professionals and are therefore responsible for the business of their schools day-to-day, local authorities have statutory duties to monitor overall standards and to hold schools to account.

“In extreme circumstances the local authority can act to replace a governing body with an interim executive board to bring about rapid improvement.”