PUPILS at a school were evacuated on Monday after a specific threat to was left on a voicemail.

Wensleydale School in Leyburn called North Yorkshire Police as soon as the threat was picked up and students were immediately evacuated.

They were taken to St Matthew’s Church in the town and to Leyburn Primary School.

Once police had made an inspection sweep of the school and were satisfied that there was no risk to students and staff, they returned to continue with their lessons.

Inspector Mark Gee, one of several officers who visited the school, said: “We will now be making enquiries to trace those responsible for the call.

"Obviously, making calls of this nature is a serious issue which we will be investigating.”

Insp Gee added: “The school has used the incident as an opportunity to follow its policies and procedures which have worked perfectly well.”

Julia Polley, the school’s headteacher, said: “Our students are now safely back in school to continue with teaching and learning.

"All our evacuation procedures went according to plan and we are very grateful to Leyburn primary and to St Matthew’s Church for acting as centres to receive evacuated students.

“Our students behaved in an exemplary fashion and I wish to thank all those involved in carrying out a calm and well-organised evacuation of the school.

"We would ask people not to speculate on social media about these issues.”

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Education and Skills said: “ All of our schools have well-rehearsed safeguarding procedures.

"Our health and safety staff supported Wensleydale School this morning and I am very pleased that all steps were taken to ensure the evacuation was carried out safely and according to plan.”