"My school is like a warzone"

American student Holly emailed us to decribe what it's like to study in fear...

The worst things about school are usually annoying teachers, difficult lessons and getting piles of homework each night.

Not for me. My school is like a living hell.

We have a lot of discipline problems. A lot of violence, some 'bad kids' who cause trouble in school and in the neighbourhood.

Not so different to other schools you might think. But it's worse than that.

We have kids that smoke drugs in the bathroom, and there are boys that try to set fires in school trashcans. And just recently, it's got a lot worse.

In the past year my school has had four bomb threats and two gun threats.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll make it home

Recently something happened that forced me to realise how bad the situation at my school has become.

Everyone was having a good time in the lunch room, just talking and eating, and flirting with all the cute guys.

Then, our Principal walked into the room, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost or something. His face was really pale and his eyes were watery. It just wasn't normal for him.

He walked up to the front of the dinner hall and one of the other teachers that has lunch duty shut the lights off. Everyone was silent as the Principal told us what was happening.

He said that there had been another bomb threat. The police were being called and that we were going to be sent home early.

Even the teachers were scared

Everyone was to remain in their seats and if we were going to talk it had to be in whispered tones.

We didn't know what was going on, it was really scary.

We were eventually sent home around 1pm and everyone I knew came to my house to watch TV and to try to make sense of what was going on.

“No one knew what was going on”

Finally, we found out what had happened.

We found out that in the girls bathroom someone had written in red lipstick, "The bomb will go off at 2:15. This is not a joke."

Another girl had seen the message and went and told a teacher right away.

It sounds almost stupid now, but it had terrified all of us and caused the school to be closed for a day.

The police were brought in and searched the entire school.

They found a note that said the bomb was a joke, but the school stayed closed for the rest of the day, just in case.

We went back to school the next day. The police said it had been a hoax, and that no one was going to hurt anyone.

But there were still police patroling the school grounds and everyone felt on edge.

Someone was just playing a sick joke

There was no bomb, of course. The police have told us it was likely someone just wanted a little attention.

It has still made me and all my friends afraid to go to school, although some of the bad behaviour has stopped since the police have been around.

“Images on the news make me so sad...”

When I see things like the Virginia Tech shooting on the news, I can't help but worry that something like that could happen at my school.

My parents have tried to talk some sense into me, telling me that the police would not have given us the OK to go to school if anything was really dangerous.

I suppose they're right.

It feels so wrong that we can't feel safe in our schools.

I can only hope that people will try and keep our school safe and make it a better place to study.

School shouldn't even be THOUGHT about as a place of danger. But for me, that's how it sometimes feels.