Does your primary school have lockdowns drills?

This makes no sense. Is there not a school bell? Kids round these ways are like Pavlov's dogs responding to bells, the bell rings, they line up ready to go back into school. There would be absolutely no need for a special "procedure" for this or to practice going back into school when the bell rings as they do it three times a day - morning, after break, after lunch.

This seems another of these things, like not letting children walk home from school alone until they are about 12, which every English/Welsh parent accepts as normal and doesn't happen in Scotland. Despite Dunblane.

School doors locked yes, if you want in you have to be buzzed in and sign in at office, wear a pass. Individual classroom doors - depending on school. My kids' primary school is a late 60s build, there are no doors on the classrooms at all. Secondary is a more recent build, doors can be locked.

@GingersOwner26 this just reminded me. Not a lockdown but all the primary schools in our area had a police presence for a couple of days last week after a report of a man acting strangely. Several local Facebook reports about him near a couple of schools. I was actually impressed the police took it seriously and turned up.

I didn’t think they did them at my DDs school as they were never mentioned, my older DDs couldn’t remember what they did 5mins before leaving school so I very rarely got told about their school day. Dd 3 tells me everything including how they all got locked in school and had to sit quietly with doors locked.

I asked the teacher and she said they’d always done them 🤷‍♀️

I believe some schools call them loose dog emergencies, they pretend there is a dog on the loose so have to get inside in case it bites someone.

Yes and they were doing it when ds was small and he's 25 now so it's not a new thing.

@GingersOwner26 Geez!!! That's terrifying!

One in my city had a recent lockdown situation following a reported sighting of some bloke outside it with a knife.

Yes, our primary and secondary in Nottinghamshire do it. We haven't ever been notified as parents. I actually only found out my kids primary did it last year when someone posted about it on here and I asked my youngest. They are told to stay in and away from the doors / windows.

@dragonfliesandbees knives seem to be the weapon of choice now

The Dunblane shooting happened 28 years ago. The UK (rightly) reacted by imposing major gun control laws rather than teaching kids how to hide under desks. It worked. There hasn't been a school shooting in this country since.

I had them whilst working in daycares. Absolute nightmare as the protocol was popping all the babies into one cot and wheeling them into the designated room/outsode depending on if lockdown drill or fire drill.

It was needed once as a father who was banned from seeing his child turned up with the intent of kidnapping him.

These practises are necessary and the older kids think it's all a bit of fun. (babies weren't enthused).

YABU to expect to be notified. You should just expect it to be happening.

A recent air ambulance landing was the example given to my DCs when the drills were launched a few years ago.

I remember that one, it looked like it was going to land in my garden and barely cleared the house.

Our primary does it in the Christmas term each school year, doors get locked and the kids have to practice hiding under their desks. Parents were notified of the invacuation practice that afternoon after it happened, not before.

No. Fire drills they do have.

Yes

Someone upthread mentioned something about an air ambulance landing near a school. i was just sharing my experience.

Yes, I know.

@fanaticalfairy lockdown can simply mean getting all the children inside at the same time, an invacuation rather than evacuation.

A primary local to me had an actual lock down situation a few weeks ago when a man managed to enter the school buildings. I never knew it was a 'thing' in the UK but its an excellent idea.

Well, I'm sure they didn't, because it was a common sight... But what's that got to do with the need for lock down?

The school still needs to make sure there's no kids in the field etc

The air ambulance or RAF helicopter landed frequently in our school playing field. Nobody gave it a second glance

well - the point it it could be for any reason and the point of the drill is to make sure people do the same thing every time. You don't want to have different procedures. Nor do you want to have to say what the issue is at the time.

Just like when the fire alarm goes off they don't go "It's a toaster in the staff room - Drill A" or "fire in a lift - Drill B" or "Fire in the kitchen - Drill C... no wait it's spread... Drill D" - nope. you hear the alarm, you know exactly what to do - "get up, shut up, walk to place"

The most common use for mild lockdown is aggressive parents, or teen students at High School kicking off. The alarm keeps everyone out the way so appropriate staff can deal with the situation.

That’s just what they tell the kids!! Madman with an axe might worry them a bit.

@Only2WeeksToGo most schools have different levels of lockdown/invacuation so only in the most serious scenario will children hide under the desks, other scenarios will just be getting children indoors into their classroom, sometimes closing blinds and sitting quietly. Drills may not include sitting under desks

I have never heard of it either. I'm intrigued though, surely if you're at risk of an attack by a dog getting under your desk is no help at all?