AN ENTIRE year group of 173 pupils was thrown out of school on Wednesday and told not to set foot back on the premises.

Crowds of angry Year 11 students from St Laurence School, in Ashley Road, Bradford on Avon, gathered outside the gates in disbelief that their five-year school careers had come to such an abrupt end.

Pupils were told study leave for their GCSE exams, which begin next week, was starting two days early after a spate of disruptions, including fire alarms being set off. A letter sent home to parents by headteacher James Colquhoun said study leave would start early in the light of continued defiance and lack of respect for the school.' The final leavers assembly, due to be held today, was cancelled. The letter reads: "It is a great shame that things have come to this. The vast majority of Year 11 have been a pleasure to teach but it is also true that a large minority have simply refused to give respect."

It goes on to say a fire bell had been set off for the second time, which caused major disruption, including the break-up of an AS art exam, and it was believed a Year 11 pupil had set off the alarm. Students claim they are not able to get back into the school to collect vital revision work. One pupil said: "This is the opposite of education. I'm very disappointed we've been shown such a lack of respect. Some of us still have work inside the school.

"We were ushered off the site like animals. We were supposed to leave on Friday and we haven't had the chance to say goodbye to any of the teachers." Another student said: "They kicked us out in the middle of lessons because they said we were causing too much of a disturbance.

"They weren't happy because some people have been setting off the fire alarms but they don't know it was definitely people in our year group." Jonathan Lanham-Cook, from Bristol, whose daughter Jess is a Year 11 pupil, said he was incensed at the draconian methods imposed on Wednesday.

He said: "My daughter is just distraught. It's a vital time of her school career and she wanted to say goodbye to her friends and teachers. It feels like a kneejerk reaction. You're always going to get high jinks at the end of the year. Jess is a good girl and isn't a troublemaker. It just seems very draconian to punish the whole year group."

The grandmother of another pupil said her granddaughter was worried about not being able to collect work stored on school computers. "My granddaughter was in tears, she is devastated. She's got a college placement and she needs certain grades but she can't get to her work," she said. "I know setting off fire alarms is dangerous but to dismiss 100 kids for something two or three have done seems totally wrong."

Mr Colquhoun said the school had acted out of sorrow rather than anger but believed it was in the best interests for the other 1,200 pupils that study leave should start earlier than planned. He said: "The school had become unmanageable in terms of fire bells being struck and rumours about what was going to happen as the week went on. They were asked to leave but were not shepherded out, just steered."

He said he had received a number of phone calls from angry parents and that a number of students who felt they needed guidance from teachers had been allowed to return to the school after 3pm yesterday and today. "Only six lessons have been lost from the original plans," he said. "We are not talking about a bodyblow to their GCSEs."