A Greymouth principal says his students remained calm while their school was locked down after a group was threatened by an armed man.
John Paul II High School in Greymouth was locked down for several hours on Monday afternoon after the incident, at a property near the school.
Principal Kieran Stone says the distressed students contacted a teacher and police were phoned. The Armed Offenders Squad was called in.
Mr Stone says the school recently put in place a system to deal with such incidents, which worked well.
Senior Sergeant Allyson Ealam says the incident began with a verbal altercation between three John Paul II High School students and a man at an address near the school.
She says the school was put in lockdown for about an hour and surrounding streets were cordoned off.
A man, 21, was arrested without further incident and a slug gun seized.
