Four London schools were among 14 across the country to be evacuated today amid fears that bombs had been placed on site.

Hundreds of pupils in the capital were forced to leave their lessons while specialist officers were sent in to sweep the schools.

There were also alerts at six schools in the West Midlands and four others in Cornwall.

In London, alarms are thought to have been raised at Ricard’s Lodge High School in Wimbledon as well as Raynes Park High School, a school in south-east London and another in west London.

The Met confirmed it was informed of four separate calls made to schools across the capital this morning claiming a suspicious device had been left at their premises.

A spokeswoman said: “The schools have been evacuated as a precaution while the incidents are looked into.

“At this stage, the incidents are being treated as malicious communications.”

The incidents were stood down shortly after 10.30am on Tuesday and a police spokesman confirmed to the Standard that no devices were found.