A Carmarthenshire school was forced to go into a partial ‘lockdown’ this week due to ‘threats’ being made over social media to students.

Dyfed-Powys Police officers were called to Whitland’s Ysgol Dyffryn Taf secondary school on Wednesday (September 11) after the headteacher took the decision to place the school into a state of ‘partial lockdown’ over the afternoon as a ‘precautionary measure’ after the threats made were considered ‘credible’.

Members of the neighbourhood policing team were also present at the premises, whilst investigations were ongoing.

The measures were in response to information the school received earlier in the day, with steps taken to ensure safety, such as - all external doors being locked during lessons; and staff supervising corridors and the site perimeter

Teaching and learning continued as normal, but pupils remained in class at all times.

An update offering reassurance on social media from head teacher Alun Owen stated afterwards: “The partial lockdown has now been lifted, as the risk associated with this incident has now passed. All pupils will travel home by normal routes.

“Thank you in anticipation of your support and understanding.”

Correspondence going into more detail over the incident was also sent out to parents and guardians from the head, who stated: “I imagine many of you may have some questions or concerns regarding why I felt it necessary to go into partial lockdown.

“Whilst it wouldn’t be appropriate to share specific details with you at this point, what I can say is that a threatening message/threats were made, over social media, regarding the safety of two specific Dyffryn Taf pupils.

“The parents of these pupils were made aware of the threats and are fully supportive of the school’s responsive action.

“This threatening message/threats were ultimately deemed sufficiently credible to trigger a partial lockdown response and were dealt with effectively by the school.

“Ysgol Dyffryn Taf has policies and procedures in place that are designed to keep the whole school community safe and yesterday’s incident proved that these policies work very well.

“If any pupil may need some welfare support, this can be arranged through their head of year and our pastoral officers.

“I also wish to extend a sincere and heartfelt word of thanks for the very calm and highly professional behaviour that our staff displayed throughout the process. I am extremely proud of the way they all worked to manage the situation so effectively,” he added.