Welsh school goes into lockdown as police arrest boy on suspicion of making threats
Ebbw Fawr Learning Community in Ebbw Vale
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A school in Wales has gone into partial lockdown, with police attending the scene.
Ebbw Fawr Learning Community in Ebbw Vale is said to have put the procedure in place after reports of people with knives.
The school has now reopened with parents encouraged to collect their children from school as normal.
It comes just days after two teachers and one pupil needed hospital treatment after being injured at a secondary school in Ammanford.
A spokesperson from Gwent Police told GB News: "We received a call to report that the secondary campus to Ebbw Fawr Learning Community had been placed in partial lockdown at around 10.20am on Friday 26 April after a teenage pupil had allegedly received threatening messages.
"Our officers are in attendance. We have arrested a teenage boy on suspicion of making threats.
"The arrest did not take place on school premises and was not in the Ebbw Vale area. Our enquiries are ongoing."
A teacher at the school told WalesOnline: "The teaching staff are doing a fantastic job keeping the pupils calm."
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Ebbw Fawr Learning Community (file pic)
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Parent Maria Tudor said the school texted parents just before 10.30am to say the school was in partial lockdown.
She told WalesOnline: "I thought it was a general procedure practice when the school texted but then my son texted me. He said they had not been told anything about why they were in lockdown. He is on the second floor locked in a classroom with his class, he is in a history class.
"I last spoke to him about 12pm and he said he was OK and they were just waiting for the all clear. I am petrified after what has happened this week.
"We don't really know what happened. I am going down to the school as soon as I can to pick him up when the lockdown ends. I am extremely worried but am confident the teachers are keeping children safe."
Superintendent Matthew Williams said: "We have arrested a teenage boy on suspicion of making threats. This arrest didn’t take place on school premises and was not made in the Ebbw Vale area.
"We carried out a search during the arrest, and no offensive weapons were found. He remains in police custody at this time as our inquiries continue.
"We understand the level of concern from parents in the area today, but I’d like to thank the public and the school for following protocol, remaining calm and relaying any concerns they had to us.
"These actions allowed us to act quickly, make an arrest, safeguard pupils and reassure the community. The school is now no longer in lockdown and parents and guardians are collecting their children."