The Great Escape? Students unsuccessfully try to dig their way out of school

Some kids will stop at nothing to get out of class.

At Nottingham's Djanogly City Academy, students aren't permitted to leave school property during the day without permission.

To reinforce this rule, a 3.6-metre-high security fence surrounds the academy's Gregory Boulevard site to "reduce truancy," and the school uses a swipe-in system to keep track of attendance.

The fence, however, didn't stop a group of determined pupils from plotting their escape from the school grounds last week.

"The fencing with security signs all over it does make it look a bit more like a prison than a school and I guess to some pupils that’s a challenge," Tracey Phillipson, whose daughter is a student at the school, told the Daily Mail.

According to BBC News, school staff found a "large quantity of cutlery" near a hole at the bottom of the fence.

Five 14-year-old boys were planning to tunnel under the fence, Great Escape-style.

The hole has since been filled in and reinforced with a metal bar to discourage a repeat attempt.

In a statement, interim head teacher Elaine Crookes wrote:

"We can confirm that five pupils tried to leave the school at lunchtime by getting below the fence on the fields at our Gregory Boulevard site. We have spoken to the students concerned, and taken action to repair the hole. That part of the fence has also been reinforced."

Teachers were encouraged to be on the lookout for students smuggling cutlery out of the cafeteria.

During World War II, 76 soldiers escaped from Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III by digging a deep tunnel under the fence. Ultimately, 73 of them were recaptured.

This legendary "Great Escape" was immortalized in pop culture by a 1963 film starring Steve McQueen.