Vic schools evacuated after threat

Schools across Sydney and Melbourne have been locked down or evacuated after threats were phoned in, NSW and Victoria Police have confirmed.

Victoria Police said they were aware that schools in a number of other states had also received similar phone calls in the past 24 hours.

ABC 702 Sydney reported that police operations in New South Wales were “under way at Woolooware High School in the Sutherland Shire and at Penrith High School in Sydney’s west”.

A NSW Ambulance spokesman said paramedics were called to a school on High Street at Penrith at 10.50am; to a school on Woolooware Road in Woolooware at 11am; and to a school on Francis Street at Richmond at 11.10am.

Schools across France and Britain have also been evacuated after receiving bomb threat calls, The Telegraph has reported.

Students have been evacuated from the Woolooware school, according to a parent who called 2GB Radio.

Schools placed in lockdown included Aitken Creek Primary in Craigieburn, Berwick Chase Primary and Cowes Primary. They also said Mona Vale Public School was affected.

A Department of Education spokesman said several schools received threats this morning.

All schools have since been declared safe, with students sent home.

In the past few days, hundreds of schools across Britain, France, the US, Japan, the Netherlands and Guam received co-ordinated threats that forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of students. They were evacuated to Ulladulla High School hall.

One Reservoir High student tweeted about the bomb threat, saying: “Is any of us students scared honestly no, we are treating this as a joke”.

“The safety and wellbeing of our students is always our number one priority”.

Both NSW and Victoria authorities will not confirm the exact type of threats received.