To wonder why DS's school is closed this afternoon?

Unfortunately threats in schools are rarely from unknown terrorist bogeymen, but usually from violent parents and ex partners (almost always men).

Our laws are in a poor state when it gets to the point that police can visit schools to brief staff about dangerous threats a parent has made, but don't actually have the power to do anything about the threats until they are followed through on.

Children, ex partners and school staff are so often put at risk. Lockdown measures are sadly essential.

I recall about 30 years ago the school where I was teaching had an early closure, 2pm rather than 3.30pm, unspecified to parents, in fact many of the staff, Head included, had tickets to go and see the Rolling Stones!

I work in a school and we did lockdown training where we went through all the protocols for different types of lockdown, how to handle staff/children missing during a lockdown (e.g., at the toilet), practiced barricading classroom doors with a security wedge thingie, and consider where to hide children. It's not necessarily about terrorism, a lockdown could be needed for all sorts of scenarios - someone taken seriously ill/injured in the corridor and children need to be kept in classrooms, dog in the playground, chemical spill (we're a rural school and the nearby farms use various substances), air ambulance landing (they've used our field in the past), parent kicking off/attempting to do an unauthorised pick up (E.g., parent who doesn't have custody). That was a half day training session.

It won’t be a jolly.

I teach in a small, southern, English school. We had whole school training in the event of a terrorist attack. We had to practise evacuating all the children. Probably a couple of years after 9/11. Not particularly relevant, but I was reminded.

School being taken over by a new academy?
New Head taking over?
Discussing arrangements regarding problems with the building such as asbestos etc

Aaah, That makes sense, for some reason I was imagining how to stop terrorists getting into the school, like American school shooters

Yes it does happen but the point is the hours will already have been made up elsewhere, e.g. first aid training from 4-6 one day, then two other similar trainings on other days.

It could possibly be disaggregated training time. In layman's terms they use half a day of the 5 allocated as INSET days but give staff time off and do the training in extra after school sessions outside of directed time. So it could be one big jolly or they could be recognizing that lots of mock marking/report writing now happens at this time of year and are giving staff some time, having covered the 2 or 3 hours training in twilight sessions earlier in the year.

Maybe youngsters being radicalised. What to look out for, how to dob them in.

They’re all on Amazon buying prime bargains!

Where do you live that the risk of terrorism if so high that the staff need special training.

What could civilians learn in half a day that would stop terrorists anyway, that's some pretty high skilled stuff

I think you meant anti- terrorism training!

My kids school did this. Some parents were up in arms till they found out it was terrorism training

Possibly time put aside for end of term jobs in school.whjch are far easier and faster to do when there are no children in school as you can have all hands on deck rather than just 2-3 LSAs released from normal duties. For example, doing an inventory and sort out of resources, cataloguing the library books, taking down displays, putting up fresh backing paper, organising the reading books and repairing all the ripped ones, organising classroom cupboards, putting away the new school supplies, preparing next terms exercise books with labels and tags, putting new tags on coat pegs and drawers, etc.

The context of my post was the OP about a whole school being closed for the day so I assumed people would realise I meant the whole school would close.

Looking back on it I suppose it was bizarre. But it was the 60s/very early 70s and we didn't question it.

It's called a disaggregated training day.

I doubt it’s a party. DDs school finishes early on friday, all the schools I’ve worked in finished early last day of term and we encouraged everyone to leave asap.
On a Tuesday is seems a bit random. It isn’t somewhere that’s becoming an academy or changing MAT so they can speak to all the staff?

obviously they don’t call it that to the parents. But it definitely happened I’m not a teacher my housemate was and he said I’m off today it’s Christmas shopping day and then they had their Christmas party in the evening. I lived there for two years and it happened both years

@KateDelRick That’s not true. When the teachers co tracts we’re rewritten in the 80s and it was decided to disaggregate pay over 12 months, rather than paying teacher for just the months in school (same money spread over more months) they also took five days of paid holidays allowance to make the inset days. Schools can calendar onset as they see fit and use them for any purpose- some give staff time back. Next year my school has one at the beginning of each term yo allow us to get up and running.

I assumed you meant there was a half day after they received the offer, which is in the school year. So you got a half day in honour of students from the previous year getting the grades for their Oxbridge offer? That’s just bizarre

It is likely staff related if they won't say why. Probably not a leaving do as I've never known one to be in school hours and a party wouldn't be on a Tuesday, surely, if they finish on Friday. End of academic year not a good time for training, especially if staff are leaving. Maybe putting on a show for the students?

In my experience, secondary schools often aggregate hours and have odd times off though - they seem to get away with little or no explanation, compared to primary schools where childcare is a big issue.

Presentation afternoon for the staff who are leaving is my guess.

Ha, no, I'm sorry, but I agree with the others... it's clear as mud.

I was speaking to a teacher at a party recently and this subject came up, she said they have it at her school but maybe they call it something else. Secondary school but no idea if it's an academy

Is it an academy? My child's school does this at least once a term - sends the children home after registration so it still counts as a full day!

Sometimes it is for a specific reason like they have an open evening or parent's evening later, sometimes it's just because it is the end of term.