PARENTS have spoken of their relief after a major emergency services incident at a school in which dozens of pupils were reported to have collapsed was declared a false alarm.

Dozens of paramedics, firefighters and police officers were sent to Outwood Academy, in Ripon, at 12.30pm after the school issued an alert over 27 children who had complained of feeling sick or faint during and after an Armistice Day assembly on Wednesday.

Two pupils were treated at Ripon Hospital as emergency services launched an inquiry into the cause of the incident, amid concerns it may have been related to a carbon monoxide leak or hazardous materials.

The Northern Echo:

Concerned parents gather at the school

Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan offered the Department of Education's support as Yorkshire Ambulance Service paramedics treated the remaining children at the school, which has 635 pupils aged 11 to 18, before they were all found to be well.

A specialist detection, identification and monitoring team from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was sent to the school to aid the investigation.

North Yorkshire Fire Service station manager Dave Winspear said the fainting incidents could have been caused by school hall being warm.

He said: "We are of the view the children just fainted and there was a ripple effect throughout the school.

"More children felt anxiety and started to feel concerned and the thing has escalated.

"We have carried out a very thorough assessment and found no hazardous materials or anything untoward in the school environment."

Year 11 pupil Josh Hall said: "We were all doing Remembrance Day for people in the war and for people who were passing out [of the military].

"People kept passing out every ten or 15 seconds. I counted about five."

Josh said after pupils left the school hall they were told that a number of children were sick, but speculation mounted among pupils and social media as the cause remained unclear.

He said he felt shocked, but the emergency operation had been "over the top".

As concerned parents gathered outside the school gates on Clotherholme Road, there were angry scenes as parents complained of having been left in the dark by the school.

After meeting him at the school gates, Josh's father, Leigh Hall, said he was "over the moon" to find his son well.

He said: "I'm a little bit concerned I wasn't informed. I literally turned up to find police, fire and ambulances here, so some kind of information could have been passed to the parents.

"There are so many children here they can't inform everyone, but something could have been done, a text message, anything."