Violence at one of the Island’s senior schools yesterday prompted Police to warn parents to ensure students go straight home after exams to prevent further conflict.

Sources at the Berkeley Institute told The Royal Gazette that troubles began with a minor scuffle at the school on Wednesday, with tensions subsequently escalating through online messages on WhatsApp.

Several dozen students at both CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley reportedly had access to the online conversation, in which students prepared themselves to meet for a confrontation.

At about 11.30am yesterday, several CedarBridge students allegedly arrived on motorbikes at the Berkeley premises, near to the entrance gates. They are said to have smashed a van’s windows with a crowbar before Police arrived. As many as 100 Berkeley students were reportedly present at the time of the incident.

Students at the school said they were later told by staff to go straight home after their exams.

Police said they had received “a number of reported fights between students from both schools” around the City of Hamilton, requesting that students from both schools go directly home after exams “out of an abundance of caution”.

Police media manager Dwayne Caines said: “Police are advising parents and guardians of students at CedarBridge and Berkeley to have students go straight home.

“This is the result of information received. Police are being proactive and will be on hand to deal with any antisocial behaviour if it should arise.”

He added that the service’s Community Action Teams had been communicating with both schools to determine the best way forward for the rest of the school year.

Efforts to reach the principals of CedarBridge and Berkeley were unsuccessful yesterday, but a spokesman for the Ministry of Education confirmed that it was aware of a “brief altercation” involving about a dozen students at Berkeley.

He added: “The incident, which lasted a few minutes, was ended through intervention by school officials and security staff. Exercising an abundance of caution, the school assisted some students who had completed school activities for the day, with transportation to the Hamilton bus terminal.

“Bermuda Public Secondary Schools students at the senior school level were completing end-of-year exams. Other students completing afternoon examinations at Berkeley continued without incident.

“At CedarBridge Academy there were no altercations or disruptions and students completed exams as per normal.”

The spokesman said reports of early school closures were “erroneous”.