TENSIONS have risen at a Barnsley school after a note was found at a nearby bus stop which forewarned of an impending ‘mass shooting’.

Last Thursday, a parent found the note at a bus stop near Holy Trinity School shortly before 9am.

The note appeared to allude to a potential shooting which was due to happen ‘at 11am’ - although no date was given.

Police were quickly called to the school, and the threat is being treated as a hoax - however parents revealed they remain uneasy about sending their children to the school until the threat is eliminated.

“I found out about the threat on the Friday, and I have vowed to keep my daughter off school until someone can assure me that the threat is a hoax,” said one parent, who wishes to remain anonymous.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I sent my daughter to school and something did happen.

“It’s quite frightening because nothing like this has happened in Barnsley and I don’t want to imagine the kind of person who may possibly do something like this.

“Even if it is a hoax, as a parent I would like some assurance that the prankster will be dealt with because in my opinion the joke isn’t funny.

“I’ve tried contacting the school and South Yorkshire Police but I feel like I am being kept in the dark.”

The parent has also hit out at the school for their delay in letting parents know about the incident.

“I only found out about what had happened at 3pm the following day,” they said. “Apparently the school had put something on the school gateway app at 4pm the day the note was found - but it’s not a requirement to have the app, I don’t, and so some parents knew and some didn’t.

“I understand that the school wouldn’t want to cause a panic and have lots of parents heading to the school but I think we deserve to be kept in the loop - especially since it’s our children who would be affected.”

A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police confirmed they had been alerted.

“Police were called to a school in Barnsley just after 9am on Thursday, September 30 after they were alerted to a threatening note left on a bus stop near the school.

“The content of the note was proved to be a hoax.

“There was no evidence to suggest this was a credible threat.

“Police take hoaxes extremely seriously.”

The Chronicle contacted the school, but no-one was available to provide a comment.