Police at the scene after Esperance Senior High School was evacuated. Credit:Julia Kogan, Esperance Express Magistrate Greg Benn did not allow bail to be granted for the boy to be in his relatives' care unless all firearms in the house were surrendered to police. There were two rifles at the house in addition to the shotgun, the court was told. The boy was charged by police after allegedly entering the school armed with the gun about 3pm yesterday. He was ushered into an office by the principal and deputy, while the other students were evacuated from the school. Police negotiated with the boy to surrender the firearm, which they say was not stolen, and he was taken into custody "without incident".



Student suspended Education Department deputy director general David Axworthy said an independent panel would decide if the boy would be "excluded" from school in the next fortnight.



"I understand that immediately the school suspended the student and an exclusion process will take place now," Mr Axworthy said.

"If a school believes a student should be excluded from their school then they have to present a case to an independent panel."



No new measures would be taken to screen students other than those put in place earlier in the year when teachers and principals were advised to immediately contact police and suspend any student they believed had a weapon. "The last thing we want to do is turn our schools into fortresses or to overreact to what is a very isolated incident," he said.



Mr Axworthy said two or three students did see "something" and they were able to access counselling today. He also commended the principal, who persuaded the boy to go into his office, along with the deputy principal. "Obviously something like this is going to shake you up and I'm sure that when he sits down after school finishes today and reflects on what happened he'll be a bit upset, but basically the staff are doing very, very well." The police came down the road and got out of their cars and started yelling at the high school kids to get out.

"(Staff) were able to defuse what could have been a very difficult and dangerous situation and no student or staff member was hurt or traumatised by the incident." He would not confirm claims the boy had been bullied at the school, saying any comment about events preceeding the incident could compromise the court case. It was the first time a loaded gun had been taken to a WA school by a student, Mr Axworthy said.



"The situation that has occurred here is very different from any other situation that we've experienced in our schools, this is not an example of general misbehaviour, this is a very unique experience."



The Department would act strongly to protect students if violence, weapons or bullying at any school was reported, he said. Parents stunned A mother who knows the boy, who declined to be named, described him as "just a regular child".

"It's just a dreadful situation, the family is a really nice family and they are all good kids," she said. "It's just unfortunate that these things sort of escalate, we're all astonished." "We can't guess how he was feeling or how things happened because that's inside the child himself. I just hope that we move on from this and we learn a little bit more about how kids deal with things." She was driving her own children home from school while police were putting up a road block and evacuating the high school. "(The students) were very calm and I don't know if they really knew what was going on," she said.

She said students seemed to be returning to the school "as normal" this morning. "Our kids still go to school, I still feel safe at the school, it's just an ordinary school," she said. Parents writing about the incident on a social networking website said it was "unbelievable". "I was about to cross the road with my children when the police came down the road and got out of their cars and started yelling at the high school kids to get out," one parent wrote on Facebook. "We were stunned! took us 40 minutes to get home, a journey of only 10 to 15 min."

Another mother wrote: "I was actually picking my kids up from Esp Primary when I saw the police cars come flying past...my gut instinct told me to get home (just down the road from the high school) and make sure my high school aged daughter was ok and home safe.. I'm glad I did." Teachers praised Mr Axworthy said he was relieved and delighted that staff and students were not hurt during the incident. "I'm really impressed with the way the principal and staff dealt with this situation, it shows great professionalism and I can't praise them highly enough," he said. He said students and staff were evacuated across the road to Esperance Primary School as the tense situation unfolded.

"Some secondary students located in a farm building on the school site some distance from the front office were kept in the building until the incident was over," Mr Axworthy said. Loading "We will ensure that all the support that staff and students require will be provided, including counselling and access to psychologists." - with Esperance Express