Earlier today, Police dealt with an incident at Ashley Hill Primary School, Onchan.
After a security threat, made by phone, the school was immediately evacuated as a precautionary measure. All pupils and staff were perfectly safe throughout and were accommodated temporarily at Onchan Community Centre.
The area around the school was closed to traffic and parents were asked to attend Onchan Community Centre to collect children.
After a thorough search of the school and its grounds by police, nothing suspicious was located.
Tim Crookall MLC, Minister for Education and Children, praised the way the situation was handled, stating: 'In a difficult situation, the school and Department of Education and Children worked well to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all pupils and staff. The police, other emergency services and the Civil Defence responded efficiently and communicated well with staff and members of the public throughout the incident. I would like to commend them for their commitment to the safety of the public.'
Ashley Hill has 279 pupils, 265 of whom were registered as in school today.
The school will be open as normal tomorrow (Wednesday 25 May).
Following previous information Police can now confirm that the security threat at Ashley Hill school this morning was believed to be a bomb threat linked to the incidents that occurred in the UK yesterday and today.
The school was searched by specially trained officers and no explosive device was found.
Police state there is no specific threat to schools across the Island and they will open as normal tomorrow.
If the schools on the Island receive further threats the Police should be notified straight away.
This incident will be investigated by IOM Police working with Police colleagues in the UK.
