A group of teachers who staged a fictitious gun attack that left many children in tears during a Tennessee primary school field trip are facing disciplinary action for their insensitive "campfire prank".

Less than a month after a deranged gunman killed 33 students and professors Virginia Tech university, teachers from the Scales Elementary School in Murfreesboro, near Nashville, decided to spice up the traditional prank at the end of a week-long trip to a state park.

Led by Don Bartch, assistant principal at the school, they convinced the 69 sixth-graders - aged 10 and 11 - that there was a gunman on the loose and told them to lie on the floor or hide underneath the tables and stay quiet. The pupils were told that the 'code red situation' was not a drill.

One teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, pulled on a locked door as though he were trying to force his way into the building. Another was said to have slammed open a door in an adjacent room and simulated the sound of a struggle.

Then the teachers came back into the room, turned on the lights and told the children that it had all been just a joke.

Mr Bartch said that the prank lasted just five minutes and was meant to be a "learning experience". "We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he explained.

But parents and pupils were not so sure. “The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them,” complained Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.

Shay Naylor, an 11-year-old who joined the trip to the Fall Creek Falls state park, said that about 20 of the children started crying during the phoney gun attack last Thursday night.

"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out. (A teacher) told us, 'We just got a call that there's been a random shooting.' I was freaked out. I thought it was serious."

Catherine Stephens, the school principal, was forced to call a meeting of parents after the children returned home and some of the parents complained. She admitted that the prank involved "poor judgment", but added: "My hope is that we can learn from this, and in the end, it will have a positive result of growth for all of us."

In a press release published on the school website yesterday, the school's administrators said that the sixth-graders had been warned repeatedly that a "prank" would be played on them and the incident was "used as a teaching opportunity".

After the lights went on, the press release noted, "Most of the students stood up and said: 'That was a good one. 'Yeah, you got me.' High fives were exchanged."

It added: "Clearly there are many version of this situation and the coverage has been sensationalised. Regardless of the versions, this prank crossed the line in what would be appropriate to tell young children, especially in light of recent events.

"The situation is being investigated by the administration and will be dealt with correctly. Prompt and appropriate discipline will be taken..."

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