Talking to children about Terrorism

[MegBmouthUni]

Dear All,

I'm a final year journalism student at Bournemouth University and I'm doing a feature article on how to explain terrorism to children. As mums, I was just wondering if you would mind filling out my short survey, it's only 8 questions long!

www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZCMZ8XT

Many thanks in advance!
Megan

[Fekko]

Are you asking parents and schools how they do this? Publications like First News do a good job.

[MegBmouthUni]

Yes, I've spoken with a school today and hoping to speak with someone who runs terrorism drills. Open to any parents who'd like to chat with me too! And thank you for that, I'll have a look!

[Fekko]

Do the schools/councils/education dept have any guidelines? Are there any films? Have you checked our the old public information films from the 70s like 'the 4 minute warning' etc that used to scare us shitless when we were kids?

[That1950sMum]

Done.

As far as I'm aware lock down drills at school are not linked with terrorism when practising with children. Certainly not in the school I'm at. We talk to the children about terrorism if there's been a very high profile case (such as Ariana Grange concert), but when doing the drills we only talk vaguely about something dangerous outside and make references to dangerous gasses or suchlike. We did actually have to get all the children inside once when we had a swan on the school field so they know these drills are not just about dangerous people!

[That1950sMum]

As Fekko says, I always got my children to watch Newsround or read First News when they were smaller.

[Fekko]

With our last school the drill was linked to terrorism (hide in a classroom and lock the door) as well as general 'what to do is the alarm rings'.

[Footofthestairs]

Some schools already have "lockdown" drills on the premise of something like "a dangerous dog got in the school grounds". They won't be specifically stated for terrorism as there are many reasons you may need to ensure children return to and stay safely in their classrooms as a response to a specific alarm. It could be a violent parent in the building, an alcohol/drug affected parent, an out of control child with behaviour issues, etc etc.

[Fekko]

Ours started after the Westminster bridge attack so the kids were pretty aware (it's nearby).

My sister was a Head and her job seemed to be frequently bouncing no contact parents off the premises. She's only little but was often standing up to big scary blokes. The local police knew her as 'the scary one'.