UPDATED: Twenty-seven schools throughout New Zealand received phone calls today which police are describing as being of 'a concerning nature”.

For the past two days, schools up and down the country have been evacuated after they received bomb threats which were called in at roughly the same time – 12.30pm.

Brookfield Primary School was evacuated yesterday afternoon after a bomb threat was called in.

Police say officers were dispatched to the schools where they worked with management teams to decide on an appropriate response.

'As indicated earlier, todays calls may be linked to those received yesterday which initial inquiries indicated have originated overseas.

'Police are undertaking a number of lines of inquiries to establish the exact origin of these calls.”

Police are making it clear that while the calls may display a New Zealand number, they can still be originating from overseas. Similar incidents have also occurred overseas in the United States, and more recently, Australia.

'Until police can rule out any actual threat, we must take all these calls seriously and respond accordingly. The safety of students, teachers and schools are our priority.

'We understand the fear and concern that this will cause, however we reiterate that so far we have not established any actual threat to any school.”

How schools responds to these calls is now a matter for their management teams and police. How they respond will be based on their individual circumstances and the information available to them.

Police say they will not be disclosing the names of the schools who received calls due to their ongoing investigation and in the interest of preventing calls being made to other schools.

EARLIER:

Several schools in Northland are believed to be the latest target for bomb threat calls.

Police have released a statement saying: 'they are responding to further incidents involving calls made to a number of schools this morning which are of a concerning nature”.

Stuff is reporting the schools involved are in Kamo, Kaitaia and Kerkeri.

'Police are attending at each school and working with school management teams on the appropriate response,” says a statement from police.

'Today's calls may be linked to the events of yesterday, where calls were made to six schools around the country.

'These calls were of an automated nature and our initial enquires suggest that they may have originated from overseas.”

Inquiries into yesterday's events are ongoing.

'Police must, however, take today's calls seriously and assess the appropriate response at each school.

'The priority for police is to ensure the safety of staff and students.”

Further information will be released as soon as it is available.