Sydney schools understood to have received the emails on Tuesday include Willoughby Girls High,Castle Hill High,Thomas Reddall High,Mount Annan High,Elizabeth Macarthur High,Picnic Point High,Baulkham Hills High,Bossley Park High,Ravenswood School for Girls,Crestwood High and Jamison High. Willoughby Public School,next to the high school,was also evacuated.
As the member for Willoughby,Ms Berejiklian told Ben Fordham on 2GB on Wednesday morning she knew the disruption to the community the scam emails had caused.
"I know from my own local school how that affected the local community;it was a stressful time and that happened 20 times across NSW,"she said.
Willoughby Girls High was among the schools affected.Credit:Janie Barrett
After completing their final year of school amid a range of adverse circumstances – including weeks of remote learning and restricted celebrations due to social distancing requirements – the Premier said she sympathised with the year 12 students affected by the emails,some of whom were unable to complete their legal studies exam.
"It's a very stressful time,in 2020,to be doing the HSC anyway and the kids didn't need that,"she said.
The Premier said"it was a very scary thing,but I know police are onto it",adding it was necessary to evacuate the schools.
"The police have to do the right thing which is assume the threat is real,"she said.
Speaking onToday,NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said she was"devastated"for the year 12 students who had their exams disrupted.
"I'm devastated for them and I'm angry,"she said.
"Yesterday,as soon as we knew all of the kids were safe,there was that sense of relief – but I'm really cranky at whoever is behind this.
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"It has been tough enough for year 12. It is a disgrace:not a funny prank."
Ms Mitchell reiterated that students would be able to apply for misadventure provisions if they believed their exams were impacted.
The subjects most likely to have been impacted were legal studies in the morning and visual arts in the afternoon,although Ms Mitchell said most exams had returned to normal after lunch.
"Some schools moved to alternative locations we had as a back-up plan in case there was a COVID impact on a school,"she explained,stressing the varying impacts of the evacuations would be taken into account when exams were marked and"students won't be disadvantaged in any way".
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