Mount St Patrick College, Murwillumbah, evacuated after ‘bomb’ threat

An elite school on the Qld-NSW border has been evacuated after a “bomb” threat, causing panicked parents to slam the incident as “not funny, not clever – and not entertainment”.

Mount St Patrick College, Murwillumbah. Picture: Supplied.

An elite Tweed school has been evacuated after a “bomb” threat, causing panicked parents to slam the incident as “not funny, not clever – and not entertainment”.

At about 10.45am on Monday, police were called to Mount St Patrick College on Murwillumbah St following reports a threatening phone call had been received, police say.

The school was evacuated as a precaution while Tweed/Byron Police conducted a search of the area. No suspicious items were located, a NSW Police spokesman said.

The grounds of the Catholic school – teeming with secondary students recently back from the summer holiday period – was thrown into “chaos” when “kids were forced to sit on the oval in the hot sun because some idiot thought it would be funny,” one parent wrote on social media.

Mount St Patrick College principal Gavin Dykes issued a letter to parents after the frightening episode, saying staff acted swiftly to mitigate any danger.

NSW Police swiftly responded to the threat. Picture: Generic, file.

“Earlier today the college initiated a standard evacuation procedure due to a safety concern,” he said.

“Emergency services assisted the college to mitigate the risk as quickly as possible so students could return to their normal class schedule.

“The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff are always our highest priority.”

A number of concerned parents swarmed Facebook in the wake of the threat, saying it was a “bomb threat”.

“Our teachers and educators put up with a lot and the Mt St Pats teachers, educators, cleaners and canteen volunteers did not deserve the stress of this today,” Gab Marx said.

“This is not funny. This is not clever. This is not entertainment.

“We as parents learned during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 how hard it is to actually provide education to our own kids, let a lone a classroom full. I would like to thank everyone at the school who helped keep the kids settled and handled this situation with full professionalism.”

NSW Police will continue to investigate the incident.

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Originally published as Mount St Patrick College, Murwillumbah, evacuated after ‘bomb’ threat