CWA’s King’s Lynn campus was closed for approximately 1.5 hours this morning as a result of an incident to which the police were called.
Although the campus was closed for a relatively short time, it happened at the beginning of the day, which meant that, whilst the incident was being dealt with, students and staff arriving for lessons had to be redirected to our sports campus at the nearby Lynnsport facility.
At no point were any students or staff in danger and the temporary campus evacuation was a precautionary measure supported by the police.
In terms of the incident, an adult male who is not a student of the college arrived at the main reception area around 07:45. He was in an agitated state and staff were unable to communicate with him in a reasonable way so they called our security team. As a result of his concerning behaviour, staff were cleared from the reception area and the police were called. There were no students present at the time.
When the police arrived on the scene, the man, who is not thought to be from the local area, was arrested and removed from the campus. Once the police had completed the necessary safety checks, they advised us that the site could be re-opened and students and staff were then able to return to the campus.
CWA principal David Pomfret said: “I understand that some students and parents may be feeling unsettled as a result of today’s incident. The safety of our students and staff is of paramount importance. I believe that our staff dealt with the situation swiftly and appropriately and at no point were students at risk. However, we will of course review our response to the incident to identify any areas we could have managed more effectively.”