To think it's very depressing that school children need to learn this

Agree with this - would you rather they just didn't make them aware of possible unspeakable things that may (hopefully not) happen? (Very sad to acknowledge, but probably necessary and great 'foreword thinking' in this often awful day and age). Just to have that awareness may save their life. Of course, we all truly hope it will not ever have to actually be put into practice in their real lives. xx

https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/24953372.knox-academy-lockdown-teen-arrested-following-alleged-bb-gun-incident/

A family member was caught up in this incident last month . The staff and pupils had previously been told what the signal would be for lockdown and when they heard the signal they locked the door and put the lights out as they had been instructed to do. They initially thought it was a drill but as time went on they began to wonder whether it was actually a real thing.

The French school I worked in before covid did an invasion/ lockdown drill every term as was the fire the drill. The former the children hid in the classroom in silence under the tables and the latter evacuate the school in a fast orderly manner.

Upsetting, yes but I'm a teacher and have a drill lockdown twice a year and it is extremely important that the students and staff know what to do if it was ever needed.

We live in a very sad society where people are doing dreadful things & unfortunately as with everything we are following in the footsteps of America with everything & children being harmed in schools is a sad fact our country now has to face but instead of finding it sad I’d be grateful the school are being pro-active in teaching the children how to behave; respond & do the best to stay safe x

20 years ago we had fire drills and emergency evacuation drills (this was in Spain, where no violence in school had ever happened before)
Now I’m in Uk, my DS still in nursery but he knows what to do in a event of a fire.
As modern days change and sadly threats at school can happen, as sad as it is, I would not be again them learning how to protect themselves.
Terribly sad, wicked and sickening…but I want my child back home everyday

My children are in high school but have done it all the way through primary "incase a dangerous dog" made its way into school. Be prepared is probably best.

It is sad it needs to happen but I hope it is reassuring to you that the schools are taking precautions and that the children will know what do it if they need to.

As a nursery teacher in a private setting, we also do intruder drills if someone gets into the building and lockdown drills if there is anything happening outside.

I have found these to be really important. We had a fight right outside the nursery’s window (coming onto our drive) with weapons being used and we were able to quickly
manage the situation because the children were already familiar with the routine.

I've once been in a classroom while there was an actual fire emergency. This was well over 25 years ago.

It happened only 10 minutes before lunch hour. We'd had a few false alarms and I think that most people assumed that it was another one, but we followed protocol. Just as well.

The fire wasn't in the building - it was under, in an archway where paper skips were kept. (It was later thought that someone must have chucked a cigarette end into one of the skips.) When I opened my door to get the children out the adjacent concourse area was full of smoke. (The archway was directly under the concourse. I did supply in the same school some years later and the skips were no longer kept in that area.)

The practice drills were invaluable. Pupils followed instructions to turn left and go straight down the stairs and outside, into the lining up area. In my opinion, it did help to stop panic.

The worst of it was having to stand around outside in the cold until we got the all clear from the fire brigade. One unfortunate class had been in the swimming pool and the kids were standing around in their swimsuits.

I grew up not far from an army base with nuclear weapons. We did semi regular drills in case of attack.

We also had regular bomb drills at high school - not in a city - and every few months we'd all traipse to the sports hall because of a bomb hoax.

This was the 1980's.

We shouldn't have to lock our front doors, but we do.

The POINT is that we shouldn't need to do these things!

But you know that 😏

My parents in Australia also recall the nuclear bomb drills.

My DC's primary school was already gated by the end of the 1980's and most of the gates were locked. I don't think that the main gate was locked but it was directly outside the main office window. By the time my youngest child left in 1995 the gates were all locked at all times.
At my GC's primary schools they have regular drills for intruders (as well as fires) and do everything they can to avoid scaring the children. They had one at going home time earlier this term and the internal and external door to the classrooms were immediately locked, with classes being taken individually to the halls until they were given the all clear to move.
There are quite a few children from refugee families at the school who may well have been involved in real emergencies in their original countries but all the children behaved really well as hopefully they would if they had an unexpected emergency.

Of course specific incidents like the ones you mention in your posts are rare. But where's the downside of getting to kids to practise a safety drill every now and then, provided the teacher doesn't scare the crap out of the kids in the process? I don't see a problem in being pragmatic about these things, personally...

Lockdown drills in the U.K. aren’t aimed at school shootings. US drills are, and are very different to U.K. ones.

He lived less than a mile away and had planned to do it that morning. If his mum hadn’t woken up and challenged him he would have at least got to the school. I don’t like it either but my son’s primary school have said they will do it in an age appropriate way. In secondary they obviously know all about this stuff and sometimes ask me what I would do. When they ask I can tell them our lockdown procedure but we haven’t practised it since 2019.

Many schools have tighter security, so harder for an intruder to get in. But schools can never totally prevent someone getting in unless they are built like prisons. All these measures are there to try and reduce the possibility of a serious incident happening or the severity of it, can never totally prevent it.

In case of Dunblane the children who survived in that class were mainly the ones who hid in the store cupboard.

My husband is in his 60s and clearly remembers these drills at primary school in preparation for a nuclear war. He says he spent years of his childhood in fear of the 'the bomb' being dropped.

Maybe. But they were adamant they had only practised going outside for the fire bell, nothing that meant staying or going inside at all.

I accept it's widespread, but it clearly isn't done in 100% of schools as plenty of posters have said.

@DappledThings they don’t always hide under desks etc, they just learn the sound of the invacuation alarm means go inside, usually into your classroom. They need to be able to distinguish it from fire alarm and end of lesson/break bell.

I just checked with DC (7 and 9). They've done fire drills where they line up in the playground. I asked if they've ever done another kind where they maybe hide under their desks or in the classroom and they looked completely blank and asked why they'd need to do that. So definitely not being done here at the moment.

One thing that people forget is that in a lockdown situation ,not every teacher in every class will not automatically be aware of why the school is locked down. In some cases it will simply be a warning code from an alarm system. Its better to go straight to worse case scenario protocol (under desks etc) until facts are established.

I do know of a school that burnt down during the school day. Oddly, the putting the chair and walking calmly to the exit wasn't use, they were practically throwing the kids out the doors as the roof was in danger of caving in. Over 20 years ago though.

Doesn't mean fire drill and lickdown drills aren't vital. They need to know what to do, just in case.

At primary school it was just like a fun game with the caretaker dressed as a lion!