Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller is congratulating the teachers and parents of Tahatai Coast School for their response to a bomb threat.

The school was evacuated to Grenada Park just after 11.30am yesterday and a text was sent to parents advising them to collect their children.

Todd says everybody remained calm, the younger children focused as if practising for a fired drill.

'Parents have informed me it was well organised and executed by staff. Tahatai Coast deserves top marks for their organisation, calmness and communication.

'It's appalling that we live in a world where people think this type of thing is funny.

'In todays connected world we can't prevent this sort of nonsense going on, but our local school responded as we would all hope we would in the same circumstances – measured and always focused on our kids safety.”

Since news of the bomb threat broke, SunLive has also been told that a similar threat was also called into Otumoetai Primary School a short time after the Tahatai Coast call.

The Tauranga schools were just two of a number of schools that were targeted nationwide.

Police say schools were evacuated as a precaution.

"It is believed, based on the information available to us at this time, that the calls may be similar to those received earlier this year, which inquiries indicated originated overseas.

"We should make it clear that while such calls may display a New Zealand number, they can still be originating from overseas."