By Kaitlyn Offer and William Ton in Melbourne

A boy is dead after a woman crashed through a primary school fence and into a group of students, in what police described as a “tragic accident”.

The 40-year-old driver had just collected her child at Auburn South Primary School, east of Melbourne, when she performed a U-turn and crashed through the fence into a table where the five children were seated, police say.

An 11-year-old boy suffered critical injuries in the collision, just after 2.30pm on Tuesday, and later died.

Two 11-year-old girls, a 10-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were seriously injured and taken to hospital.

The driver has been arrested and will be interviewed by police, Inspector Craig McEvoy said.

“It appears it is a tragic accident,” Insp McEvoy told reporters at the scene.

The woman and her child were not injured.

Public Order Response crews remain at the scene, with the leafy street closed off as officers come and go from the area of impact.

As of 6pm, more than a dozen police officers remained at the scene working on the white vehicle which was lodged past the school’s grey steel fence in front of a picnic table.

Police will take statements from the school principal, teachers, parents and other witnesses.

The car had a green P-plate, but Insp McEvoy said he was not certain of the woman’s licence status.

Ambulance Victoria sent multiple advanced life support and mobile intensive care vehicles to the scene.

Three of the children were taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital and two were taken to Monash Medical Centre.

Parent Lucy told radio station 3AW that her son was friends with some of the grade five students and possibly a prep student hit by the car during recess.

“We got a text message from the school just saying that Burgess Street closed and then we … actually drove past, and I just saw one police car,” she said.

“Then we just started hearing more and more police cars go down so I just raced down there.”

Lucy said she arrived at the scene to find parents hugging their children and each other.

“It’s just every person’s worst nightmare and I just hope the children are okay,” she said.

Resident Don Owen told reporters the road could be busy with traffic, particularly at the start and finish of school, and cars sometimes sped by.

Premier Jacinta Allan posted her condolences on social media.

Education Minister Ben Carroll is monitoring the situation, while Opposition Leader and local MP John Pesutto described the incident as a “painful shock”.

The Department of Education said in a statement it was working closely with staff, students and parents of the school to support them.