A POOLE school has been 'partially evacuated' this afternoon after reports of a gas leak.

Around half of the children at Heatherlands Primary School in Library Road will be picked up early this afternoon after the leak was reported.

Officials from the school have called for parents to collect their children.

One said: "Due to a gas leak in Recreation Road and no heating, as a safety precaution we need to evacuate early years, year 1, year 2, and year 6 children.

"Please collect your child ASAP.

"If you have a child in any other year group - year 3, year 4 or year 5 – you are welcome to collect them at the same time."

Officials from SGN said: "We attended Heatherlands School earlier today following reports of a smell of gas.

"Our engineers located gas readings inside a drain in an underground boiler room on the premises. We isolated the supply, the heating was turned off and we carried out safety checks.

"Pupils in nearby classrooms were moved to a different part of the school building as a precaution while we investigated.

"Heatherlands School made the decision to message parents to collect their children due to the heating being switched off."