A pupil's threats forced a school into a lockdown that saw children confined to their classrooms.

Staff at Astor Secondary School in Dover took the decision to shut children in with their teachers as a precaution during the incident, which lasted almost an hour.

The disruptive pupil, who is currently studying away from the school in Astor Avenue, entered the campus at 12.25pm on Monday.

He made a series of verbal threats after being intercepted by staff as he approached reception, which prompted the decision to lock down the school at 12.42pm.

KentOnline understands teachers were emailed and told to lock their classroom doors.

Members of the boy's family were contacted and they helped school staff diffuse the situation.

He was escorted from the premises at 1.16pm and the lockdown was lifted in time for pupils to finish their last lesson of the morning and go for lunch.

A spokesman for Kent County Council said: "Verbal but non-physical threats were made, office staff were alerted and the school’s normal precautionary measures were taken, which included a decision to put the school into lockdown.

"Members of the student's family were contacted and they assisted school staff in resolving the situation.

"Throughout this incident, students were in their fourth lesson of the day, which runs from 12.20pm to 1.20pm, so lessons were not unduly impacted."

Kent Police was contacted over the incident but officers were not required to attend as the incident was resolved by school staff and the pupil's family.

The incident was communicated to parents via a school messaging platform in messages seen by KentOnline.

'Lessons were not unduly impacted...'

Updates sent via ParentMail, a system used by schools to communicate with parents, explained pupils were "remaining in their classrooms with their teachers" and the lockdown was "a precaution".

A follow-up message said: "The incident has been contained and we are now releasing the students for lunch."

The school, previously known as Astor College for the Arts, is a mixed secondary comprehensive and sixth form.

At the time of its last Ofsted inspection in 2020 the school had around 800 pupils on its roll.