Police launch probe after hens smuggled into Edinburgh school

Students of St Thomas of Aquin's planned to release live chickens as part of their end of year prank Picture: Greg Macvean

Jokers at St Thomas of Aquin’s in Edinburgh paid £30 for a pair of hens and snuck them into the Catholic school on Friday morning.

They hid the animals in a music room cupboard, planning to release them and cause chaos later on in the day.

But their plans were foiled when a vigilant teacher spotted two suspicious white boxes while removing instruments for a lesson.

And the police are now investigating the incident - which resulted in the animals being guarded in the depute head’s office for the rest of the day.

Sixth year pupils, about to go off on exam leave ahead of sitting advanced highers, were marking their last-ever day at school.

Teen pranksters also interrupted a school leaving ceremony by “hijacking” the Bluetooth speaker system and blasting out NWA’s “F*** Tha Police” as teachers scrambled to turn the PA off.

A video taken at the assembly shows the youngsters jumping around and fist-pumping to the rude song, and ends with a teacher vowing to “draw this to an end really quickly”.

A group of boys at the 160-year-old school also managed to release 18 crickets and locusts, which they had bought for £1 each from a local farm.

A pupil at the school, who does not wish to be named, said: “We wanted to go one-up from last year when some students threw raw chicken off the mezzanine level in the food hall.

“So we thought we’d bring in some live chickens, plus crickets and locusts, and set them loose.

“A couple of the boys snuck them into school in white boxes and stored them in a cupboard in the music room - though in hindsight that probably wasn’t the best idea.

“A teacher was going to remove some instruments and came across the two boxes, so called down the depute headteacher straight away.

“They were paraded through the school and put in the depute’s office. He wasn’t too happy about it since he had warned us the previous day not to bring in any animals.”

The 17-year-old added: “Despite the chickens not going to plan, we still released the locusts and crickets.

“Also, one student synced up his phone to the Bluetooth speaker during an awards assembly and began to blast out music during a speech.

“We all got up and danced while the teachers were frantically trying to work out how to turn it off.”

It is not know what has since happened to the chickens, which cost just £15 each.

There is some speculation that the Scottish SPCA were called - though a few students believe they “may have ended up as someone’s dinner”.

A spokeswoman for the police said: “We received a report of chickens being taken into St Thomas of Aquin’s High School on Friday 29 April.

“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

In 2013, an end-of-term school prank when horribly wrong when a girl was sent to hospital after suffering an allergic reaction to honey smeared on bannisters.

The student, who went to Marr College in Troon, South Ayrshire, came out in a bad rash and was sent home after being checked over.

Students also hid fish guts behind radiators, spread washing-up liquid over surfaces and left hundreds of balloons in corridors.

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