FOUR Border schools have become the latest victims in a string of bomb scares across the country.

More than 1000 students were evacuated on Wednesday, joining a list of schools across the country that have received threats since the beginning of February.

One of the first calls was made to reception at Sacred Heart Primary School in Yarrawonga about 11.30am.

Within a short period of time, Lavington’s Murray High School and Wangaratta West and Wodonga South primary schools had also received threats.

Three CFA units were on standby at Yarrawonga while police searched classrooms.

Cobram Acting Senior Sergeant Damian Loiterton gave Sacred Heart the all-clear at 1.40pm. 

“We’ve identified that no suspicious packages have been found so we’ve handed control back to the school,” he said. 

“They’ll conduct another search of the school, but at this stage we’ve deemed it to be safe and part of the hoax calls that are going around.

“We’ve had four today, one at Wangaratta, Shepparton and Wodonga.

“Detectives from Cobram criminal investigation will take over the investigation phase (at Yarrawonga).”

Senior Sergeant Loiterton said he couldn’t confirm whether or not there was a link with the threats made to other schools over the last month. 

“At the end of the day, it’s not very nice, especially targeting young children – I just don’t understand it.”

All four schools and many surrounding buildings, placed into lock-down, were deemed safe by 2pm.

Murray High School principal Richard Schell comforted parents on the school’s Facebook page everything possible was done to ensure student safety.

“Students were extremely co-operative,” he said.

“Parents are to be reassured that classes will resume as soon as possible.”

Senior Sergeant Loiterton commended staff members at Sacred Heart for evacuating in under 10 minutes.

“By the time police arrived the school had already invoked their evacuation procedures and had everyone on the oval,” he said. 

“Luckily, they’ve got a sister campus, so the kids were walked a block away to a multi-purpose room which made it easier for the parents to get to that location.”

Sacred Heart Primary School principal Paul Maher said the smooth evacuation process eased some of the ordeal’s anxiety for parents. 

“There was great distress for the safety of their children but while the concern was there, they were also appreciative of the fact that the school had completed it so quickly,” he said. 

“There’s a feeling of frustration, there’s a feeling of anger, that these people want to disrupt the lives of children in their cause, whatever that cause may be.”

The Victorian Education Department declined to comment on the incidents.