Three pupils have been temporarily excluded by St Martin's School after an A level exam was disrupted by a fire alarm prank.
Head teacher Dr Nigel Darby said students taking their Sociology exam had to go onto the school field and stand silently at a regulation distance away from each other while pupils not taking exams congregated at the normal assembly points.
Parents were angered by the disruption caused by the prank, but were also concerned about other alarm drills undertaken during the week - although those taking exams were excluded from these.
One mum, who did not want to be named, said: "I am pleased that they dealt with the issue eventually, but as I understand the situation it has been going on for some time.
"When children are taking crucial exams it should have been tackled a bit sooner."
Dr Darby said the school had tried to deal with the situation as effectively as possible with stern safety messages delivered to all students. Several fire drills had been necessary due to the slow response times to the original incident, but students had finally evacuated the school well within the regulation time.
He said: "One exam was disrupted, but I do not think any students were adversely affected as we handled it in a calm and routine manner."
He said the other drills had not disrupted exams.
Published Friday, May 30, 2003
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