Bin Laden drama school says sorry

The drama lesson was a fictional nuclear attack

A school drama lesson ended in tears when pupils believed their teacher's suggestion that Osama Bin Laden had exploded a nuclear bomb on Britain.

Peterborough local education authority has now apologised for the "extremely unfortunate" misunderstanding last week which left pupils upset and crying.

Teenagers at Bushfield Community College in Peterborough did not realise that the "nuclear attack" claim was only setting a scene for a drama.

They were told that Osama Bin Laden had escaped from Afghanistan and that he had launched an attack on Britain.

Distress

But despite issuing an apology for any distress caused, the council says that it will not be taking any action against the staff involved.

The local authority, which issued a statement on behalf of the school, said that pupils had been told in advance that anything that happened in the lesson was "fictitious".

"Students were, as usual, informed that anything that occurred within the lesson would be fictitious, but would be aimed to evoke a mixture of emotional reactions as would be expected from a drama lesson," said the local authority.

"It is extremely unfortunate and regrettable that this exercise was taken out of context by a few of our pupils and we apologise for any distress and alarm that was caused."

The statement also emphasised that the school had been commended for the quality of its drama work.