A college in the county went into lockdown yesterday (September 17).

Cirencester College posted on Facebook yesterday afternoon: "The college is currently in lockdown whilst we investigate a threat."

It's not known what the threat was, but in an email to parents after the incident was concluded, Matt Reynolds, college principal and CEO, wrote: "We had received a security threat and immediately evacuated the area concerned and placed notification onto our website and media channels."

Police were called and attended the college site to investigate. The college kept updating its Facebook page to keep concerned parents, families and local people informed.

The police investigation revealed that the threat was almost certainly a hoax.

The final Facebook post from the college yesterday said: "The site is now reopened and buses are leaving shortly to get students home. We will send a more detailed update as to the events of today later this evening. Thank you for your patience."

The email to parents from Matt Reynolds, sent out just after 8pm, apologised for any anxiety caused by the event.

It continued: "As you can imagine, if a threat is received, we have to act very quickly with the safety of our students being of the greatest importance.

"This of course causes some upset to the end of the day, but we take student safety very seriously.

"Naturally students were also posting on social media and in response we conducted further notifications by those means.

"The police were contacted immediately and arrived within moments.

"The police conducted thorough searches with the principal. In addition,n searches were completed by staff volunteers, who I thank.

"Further investigation has found that the threat was unfounded and the site cleared as completely safe.

"I must commend the students for their exemplary behaviour and the superb support of our staff.

"I would also like to thank the Police for their rapid reaction and guidance."

The college is open as normal today.