You may see in the news that Mayfield has had to evacuate today. A very unpleasant phone call was received at 10.40 am which said that an explosive device was in the building. Staff immediately organised an evacuation and alerted the police. Children and staff very calmly moved off to Chesterton Community College and a large number of police officers searched the school. Staff were allowed into the school office at 1.30pm and some very nice PCSOs took lots of sandwiches down to Chesterton from our kitchens!
Children were collected by parents from Chesterton and the remaining ones returned to Mayfield at 2.30pm.
Needless to say the phones have been going constantly and the press have visited.
I would like to thank our children who behaved impeccably, our staff for keeping everything under control and several who worked additional hours to help out, and parents for collecting their children promptly. Special thanks to the parents who offered refreshments and toilet facilities. We are also very grateful to Chesterton staff for looking after our children very well indeed and to the police for their prompt and thorough response. Also thanks to the kitchen staff for providing lunch to some very grateful police officers.
It seems that we have been one of several schools targeted nationally and in a positive note the police were very impressed not only by the evacuation but also by the office response to the phone call.
Best wishes
Judith Greenwood
Chair of Governors