COMMUNITY

NORTHERN Gold Coast parents were confronted with the terrifying scene of six ambulance vans, three critical care paramedic vehicles and several police cars at Saint Stephen’s College yesterday afternoon.

It wasn’t until after school pick-up those without children involved were notified of what had occurred.

But as news spread of a mass teenage overdose, through word-of-mouth and an email from the principal, confusion turned to fear and panic.

The tight-knit school community has pulled together, with many wanting answers on how seven teenage boys were able to get their hands on a pharmaceutical drug and take it at school.

The college’s principal was at first too distraught to make a public statement, but later spoke briefly.

Headmaster Jamie Dorrington said the parents of the ill students travelled to hospital with their sons and he too was planning to spend the evening there. He said the school’s response was as it should be and all students received appropriate care. Mr Dorrington would not comment on what the students ingested, or how they may have got it.

At the school gates, parents waited anxiously for their children, many glued to their phones.

Worried mother Claudia Stoessel said she arrived to pick up her son and panicked when she saw the ambulances.

“I just got here and saw all the police and the ambulances and I didn’t even get told anything,” she said.

“I thought, police here?’.

“It gave me a heart attack because my son is 14 and people were saying it was a 14year-old. It was so scary.

“I say to my kids, ‘don’t take ‘why are the anything’ ... Kids always think they’re safe but it’s so dangerous.”

Area MP Mark Boothman said he was in shock.

“It’s a wonderful school and there are some very bright students there,” he said.

“Our community needs to take responsibility to do something about these drugs.

“It’s destroying an generation of people.”

Later last night, Mr Dorrington again emailed parents to request that all students’ phones and computers be monitored to intercept any footage or audio of the inci- entire