A nursery in a school in Walthamstow, London, has been evacuated after "receiving a threat" in a "concerning email". St Mary's Church of England Primary School has instructed staff and children to leave while police are at the scene to investigate. While it is the Easter Holidays, the school nursery remained open for childcare purposes.

An email was sent to parents shortly after 7:30am explaining that the school had received a threat over email. It referred to "committing acts of violence to those on our premises", the Standard reports. It stressed that its "top priority" was ensuring the safety if its children and staff.

The school said: "We are working closely with the police and following their advice and guidance to ensure the safety of our children and staff.

"At this stage, they have classed the threat as credible. Therefore, we have currently closed the nursery this morning and we will provide further updates as we receive them."

Stella Creasy, Labour & Co-op MP for Walthamstow, said this was not the only school affected as the perpetrator also targeted the South Yorkshire area.

She wrote on X: "Walthamstow have now had further update on situation with St Mary's School so can provide this new information.

"The threat received has been made primarily to schools in the South Yorkshire area - no other schools outside of this area except St Mary's School affected.

"There is nothing to suggest in either the threat made or the schools involved any faith connection to this incident. The school have made arrangements to support the children attending the nursery offsite, so if your child is one of those, please do contact them for further details.

"The police are working with the school and with their colleagues in South Yorkshire to apprehend the perpetrator. Again I know this is a shocking incident that anyone would threaten a primary school so am monitoring situation closely - this is the only information I have and the only accurate information available so please do not share anything else."