Bermuda?s largest high school was evacuated yesterday after a bomb threat ? the latest in a string of explosives-related scares.

A mystery call made from within CedarBridge Academy during the school lunch hour resulted in Police sending a bomb disposal team to investigate, although it turned out there was no device present.

The scare came after chemical bottle bombs were found at the school and elsewhere in the community over the past fortnight. The apparent confusion experienced during the incident at CedarBridge yesterday prompted the Ministry of Education to announce that all schools will be required in future to have an evacuation plan for such incidents.

The drama was sparked by a call at 1.05 p.m from a female who told administration officials at CedarBridge that she had overheard a discussion about bombs being placed on the premises. As a result, the fire alarm was pulled to evacuate staff and students from the building. The school followed fire drill protocol and students congregated outside the building, while teachers checked the building to make sure all students were outside.

Bermuda Fire Service officials quickly arrived on the scene and asked staff and students to congregate on the Police field, which is further away from the building than the usual meeting place for fire drills.

For the next hour-and-a-half students and teachers milled around the field laughing and joking, with some brushing up on their cricket skills. No attempt was made to organise the students into year groups until 2.33 p.m., and no head count was done while students were on the field.

One teacher was heard stating that many teachers have been asking for procedures to be put in place to deal with bomb threats for years, although school principal Kalmar Richards later said she was not aware of any such requests in the past. Students said that because the incident happened during the lunch hour no one was sure how many people were on the premises.

Approximately one hour after the call was made the Bermuda Police Service Emergency Ordinance Disposal team asked some teachers to assist with a sweep of the school. Sgt. Steve Cosham of the EOD said this was normal procedure after it was deemed that it was a low level threat. The teachers were not asked to do anything specific, but simply look for anything suspicious on the premises and alert EOD if they found anything.

Once it was determined that there was no bomb students were asked to report back to the class they were in prior to the scare for roll call. Students returned to their classrooms at 2.41 p.m.

?It is unfortunate that we lost valuable instructional time, but the safety of our students is paramount,? Mrs. Richards said at a press conference yesterday.

She admitted that evacuation procedures need to be improved in order to deal with bomb threats and emergencies that happen outside of class time.

?Some lessons have been learned with regard to our evacuation procedures as a result of today?s incident,? she said. ?While we are satisfied that those procedures are generally adequate, the school is in the midst of a review and had recognised a need to address emergencies which occur during the lunch period.?

Chief Education Officer Dr. Joseph Christopher said that following yesterday?s incident the Ministry of Education will require all schools to have bomb threat drills and evacuation plans similar to those required to prepare for a fire.

Mrs. Richards said that CedarBridge was already in the process of reviewing its evacuation procedures before yesterday.

Earlier in the week Sgt. Cosham, along with other officers, announced that incendiary devices were found on the premises last week and on Monday. The officers said chemicals that build up pressure within a sealed bottle and explode within a minute were found. The Ministry added that one student had been recommended for expulsion. Yesterday, Dr. Christopher said a date had been set for the hearing regarding that student but would not speculate if the threat had passed now that the student was on suspension awaiting this hearing.

The last time there was a bomb threat at CedarBridge was in 2003. Police said last night they were investing the latest incident although no arrests had been made. The penalty for calling in a fake bomb threat is a $2,800 fine, six months in jail, or both.