Auckland Schools Evacuated Amid Threats: What You Need to Know

Two Auckland schools, Waiuku College and Rutherford College, were evacuated due to threats on March 12, 2025. While police determined the threat email was a hoax, the parents of students studying in the schools were informed and Waiuku College went into lockdown.

According to the police, the threat email was also forwarded to several other organisations and even to some individuals.

Waiuku College principal Stuart Kelly informed media that the threat email was reported to the police as well as the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Soon after the threat email was received, the school was in lockdown.


Parents were informed about the threat and asked to come to the school and take their wards home. A large number of police officers were deployed at both the schools which were targeted.

While Waiuku College went into lockdown at 9 am local time Wednesday, the parents were asked to report at 11 am to pick their children. The school also posted on its Facebook page that the institution will be closed for the day to let the students recover for the shock development.

The Facebook post also advised the parents to not approach the school staff.

These incidents follow a series of hoax threats made to nearly 100 New Zealand schools and other public institutions late in 2024. All these were later found to be a hoax.

A year earlier in November 2023, almost 70 organisations across the country which included not only schools but hospitals, courts and even places of worship, were sent threat emails.