An end of school prank has been blamed after a smoke bomb caused the evacuation of a secondary school.
Builth Wells High School was evacuated just after 11.15am this morning when the sulphur smoke bomb was set off in the school’s drama studio, sounding the fire alarm. The school has confirmed the incident was caused by a suspected smoke/sulphur bomb.
Pupils taking their crucial GCSE examinations had to be relocated to the Pavilion building nearby while all other pupils were taken to the school playing fields before at around 3pm hundreds of children were seen being led to the Groe where they were able to leave for home on school transport.
All three emergency services were at the school throughout Wednesday and an unidentified child, who was collected by car, was seen leaving the school wearing only a bright orange, plastic cloak.
Rhys Davies, had been taking a GCSE chemistry exam that finished just before the alarm sounded.
The 16-year-old, from Builth Wells, said: "We had just left the chemistry exam. We went outside (as normally) and all the fire alarms went off. We were just on our way to the gym, which is next to the school, and we were told to evacuate there. The leisure centre was evacuated too.
"Our bags are still in there, but we haven’t been told we can go back and get them yet.
"Everybody lined up like they normally would for a fire drill - after we had been registered we left the school. We were told that it was a sulphur bomb, a stink bomb device that had gone off.
"We heard, although it is just rumours, that it was a prank that was pulled by this guy because it was his last day and he’d finished exams, but that is just rumours."
Some parents attended at the school to collect their children but said they were unhappy the school had given them no notification of the incident.
Alison Burrows, from Llandrindod Wells, said she went to collect her 11-year-old daughter Ffion, who is in year seven, but her son had decided to remain in school.
She said: "My son has stayed in the school because he had a school trip after school today.
"He’s 15, he’s in the last bit of year 10.
"My son messaged me to say that the school had been evacuated, then I tried phoning in to the school and then I checked on Facebook.
"As a parent, I had to come to check that my children were okay.
"I was also aware that it was dinner time - apparently they did bring sandwiches and stuff out for the kids but they didn’t have enough, so the staff had to go to the Co-op to get more sandwiches for them.
"I was not told by the school. I do think they should have done more because I didn’t get a phone call or anything. As a parent, I think I have right to know what is happening in the school. It happened around 11am, my son messaged me about 11.20am which is when I found out. I do think they could have circulated a message, even if it was just messaging one or two parents and asking them to spread the message.
"The school do normally messages but they didn’t have time. All the info I got came either from my son or from social media, and I’ve been ringing other parents."
Daughter Ffion said: "I was in D7 which is the textiles room and I was doing French because there was an exam in the French room.
"The fire alarms went off and we left the classroom and went to the school field. We lined up where we normally would if there was a fire alarm and they said someone had let off a stink bomb, but teachers said it was worse than a stink bomb.
"They said it was worse thank a stink bomb, a sulphur stink bomb.
"We were all asking if we could go to the toilet and and they said we weren’t allowed to go back in the building so we had to go to the Pavilion - around the back of the school, near the the field.
"They said that if any of us felt sick or had a headache to let them know - I had a headache but then I had a drink of water and I was alright, I didn’t have to be seen by somebody from the ambulance."
Paramedics were also checking pupils and others who presented as unwell.
Several adults were also seen behind a police cordon, in the school grounds and at its North Road entrance, in the orange cloaks while one man had no shoes and just socks on.
One grandmother, who had to collect three children from the school, said the first she had heard of it was a text message from a friend.
The lady, who asked not be named, said: "A friend asked what was going on at the school. I went to the school but they wouldn’t tell me anything. I then texted my granddaughter to check they were all alright.
"With everything that has gone on in America you do worry but the response from the fire service, the ambulance and police was amazing, they just cordoned it all off and took total control.
"The children were told it was a sulphur bomb, or a stink bomb, that had gone off. They had gone outside and lined up when the fire alarm went off but were then moved further back as they were worried it could be dangerous due to the gasses.
"They were kept on the playing fields for four hours. The youngest children, in years seven and eight, had sandwiches first and the older children had to wait a bit longer and they had run out of school sandwiches and had to get more from the council and the Co-op supermarket.
"The children said they were told not to contact their parents as the teachers said they didn’t want them to wander off.
"I was able to collect them after 2pm."
She said her grandchildren had also been told the smoke bomb had been let off as an end of school prank.
Mum Nikki Allen, went to collect daughter Sioned, and a friend, but said she’d also only been told by a friend that there was an incident at the school.
She said: "Somebody I work with left me a message asking had I heard about the school. I tried ringing the school and I couldn’t get through, no-one was answering, I then got in touch with a friend who explained what had happened so I said I would go and get the girls.
"The school have not said very much at all, they’ve not said where it went off or what it was, they’ve kept pretty tight lipped as they’ve not got the full story and it could be just rumours.
"I was very worried, anything to do with children and their safety, you do panic, they are very important they’re our future."
Daughter Sioned, 14, said: "Apparently a stink bomb went off in the drama studio and that set the fire alarms off. I was in a maths class on the other side of the school to the drama studio. I heard it was stink bomb from a lot of people but the teachers said they didn’t know anything and they knew as much as us."
Pupil Jack Davies, also 14, said he and other pupils had been outside after evacuating the building but the alarm "wouldn’t stop" and after around 20 minutes were told to move to the playing fields.
"The police then started to block off the entrances to the school and the firemen arrived, the teachers said they didn’t know half the stuff we knew but some teachers and the police said it was a smoke bomb."
Dad Chris said he had been in the town centre by chance when he heard emergency services were attending an incident at the school. He said: "I was having a bit of lunch in the Cwtch Cafe, I was meeting my wife, and some workmen came in and said something was happening at the school so I thought I should get across and make sure he was alright.
"Everybody was very, very good and gave as much information as they could and they just told me he was up on the playing fields."
A man, who lives opposite the school, but asked not to be named, said: "From what I can gather, some kids dropped a stink bomb and they think it’s more than what it is and so the school have over-reacted which has meant that all the emergency services have got involved and the school has been cordoned off so now they’re not letting anybody in to do their week.
"From talking to the kids, I think because of a particular smell they thought that the mix could have been dangerous. I really think it’s a complete over-reaction, it’s a storm in a teacup."
A neighbour who lives on Park Road said: "I could see all of the children on the field, and I’d seen the police going past, but I didn’t know what was going on."