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Original poster

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

412 replies

Eastie77Returns · 20/03/2025 15:04

DD's school is producing a video showing children what to do in the event there is an intruder in the school and they need to go into 'lockdown'. I found out as she has been asked to take part in the video production.She is in Y7.

DS is in Y4 and he told me they did a practice drill at his primary school where they followed the steps they needed to take in a similar situation.

Honestly it makes me feel very sad. I understand in the current climate it's necessary and in countries like the US it's standard but I never thought I'd see something like this here.

OP posts:
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Original poster
Eastie77Returns · 20/03/2025 19:54

saffy2 · 20/03/2025 19:47

I find that very very surprising. I live close to London and it has been the norm here at least since 2014 which is over 1 decade ago, when my son started school and I don’t think it will have just started that year.

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As stated in my other message, the headteacher at DC’s school confirmed they did not do lockdown drills. It was obviously not the norm everywhere.

OP posts:
ElleintheWoods · 20/03/2025 19:53

It’s good to have those skills.

We do this training at work - so that in the 0.001% case scenario we know what to do.

Didnt they do training for nuclear war or similar in the 80s, with gas masks and all?

LouH1981 · 20/03/2025 19:53

We did a similar drill at the primary school where I work.
Except we told the children it was incase a dog ever entered the playground.

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 20/03/2025 19:51

It's absolutely essential (not the video, but the training)

Original poster
Eastie77Returns · 20/03/2025 19:51

DS has been at his current school for 3 years and we received a letter for the first time about their emergency lockdown drill a few months ago.

If, as several posters insist on stating, this drill has been in place for years/decades and I’ve been living under a rock as I didn’t know about it, why would the school only have sent a letter about it this year? It is very clear from the language used in the letter that it is a new policy.

OP posts:
HMW19061 · 20/03/2025 19:50

My boys (4 and just 2) go to a private nursery, about 6 months ago they did a lockdown drill and they have plans in place should anything happen. I was quite surprised when they told me on pick up that they’d done it but I’m actually pleased that they’ve thought about it and that they have a plan for it just in case.

MumCanIHaveASnackPlease · 20/03/2025 19:49

I went to school in Scotland in the 90s just after Dunblane and we were learning a lot of this stuff then. I can’t say it’s scarred me for life or left any lasting impact tbh.

saffy2 · 20/03/2025 19:49

Haveabreakkitkat · 20/03/2025 19:45

It's not just school age either, we have lockdown procedure in preschools and nurseries too!

Yes I’ve had to have an intruder procedure and a terrorist act procedure for quite a number of years as a childminder.

Flamingpantoufles · 20/03/2025 19:48

My DC, 17 and 15, have never done one of these at either primary or secondary. But the younger one says the school is planning to do one soon.

saffy2 · 20/03/2025 19:47

Eastie77Returns · 20/03/2025 15:28

It hasn’t been standard for decades, or at least not where I grew up (London). Didn’t happen at my school or any of my ones my friends attended.

I also have several friends with kids who are now late teens/early 20s and they have no recollection of it happening where their children were at school.

Show quote history

I find that very very surprising. I live close to London and it has been the norm here at least since 2014 which is over 1 decade ago, when my son started school and I don’t think it will have just started that year.

Haveabreakkitkat · 20/03/2025 19:45

It's not just school age either, we have lockdown procedure in preschools and nurseries too!

saffy2 · 20/03/2025 19:44

My son is year 10, he did lockdown practices every year in primary from reception so I’m surprised this is new to you. I’m actually grateful they do it, it helps my anxiety that nobody would be caught not knowing what to do.

Whitelight25 · 20/03/2025 19:42

Snorlaxo · 20/03/2025 15:11

One school a month in England has an intruder (usually an angry parent )

My kids schools were doing this 10 years ago so better late than never. They are told it’s because of reasons like chemical spills, swarm of bees, dog in the loose, escaped prisoner (there’s a prison 3 miles away), escaped animal from the zoo… but by secondary school the kids were calling them school shooter drills because kids know of these from US news.

Intruder as in a person who enters the school premises without permission? An angry parent is not the same as a lunatic with a gun. If school incidents in which the children's lives were at risk happened 12 times a year I'm sure we would hear about them on the news. We don't. They are still very occasional in the UK, thank God.

Original poster
Eastie77Returns · 20/03/2025 19:40

HappySheldon · 20/03/2025 19:06

No, OP as I said on a pp the first I had heard of lockdown drills on MN I asked my 2 Dcs if they knew what it was. They were like 'Yeah mum. WTF. Of course we know what they are!'. They had NOT told me. It's as much a bread and butter event as the fire drill. And we are in a very rural school. And as I have said we have had 3 occasions IRL to use it in the past 10 years. (angry parents- police chase- man with machete outside the school)

People are making too much of it IMO. Do your children come home and tell you every time they have a fire drill? of course not. Because it's normal.

I don’t think my previous message was clear: in my DC’s previous school, the headteacher confirmed the school did not do lockdown drills. Parents asked her because they were concerned about criminals entering the school grounds. HT apparently deemed it unnecessary.

There are teachers on this thread who have stated it doesn’t happen in their schools…

It’s really not a big deal but I don’t know why some people cannot accept that not all schools do this? It may have been the guidance after Dunblane but clearly it’s not a legal requirement.

OP posts:
Saddogowner22 · 20/03/2025 19:40

I remember doing this in high school early 2000s the teacher said we were practicing for if there were a natural disaster and we hid under tables and the teacher said they'd be securing the door. Very unlikely to be a natural disaster in the north West of England but I guess it was a way for us to 'practice' for any event that may have meant hiding under a desk was necessary.

witwatwoo · 20/03/2025 19:39

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:27

Personally I think the drills are completely ridiculous and no I wouldn’t want my child doing them. Thankfully she’s at a school that doesn’t buy into the hysteria.

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As previously said I’m in Southport. Your comments are completely out of touch and insulting to those of us who watched as 3 children were buried last summer

echt · 20/03/2025 19:38

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:37

You can use it but you'll get called out

by who? You ? 😂. If I had directed it at a woman or at women as a group you might have a point. Otherwise it’s a perfectly ordinary word.

What makes you think fire drills aren't frightening?

Because they aren’t.

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Yes. By me.

Unless you've been living under stone all your life, you'll know exactly what the connotations of the word are.

noblegiraffe · 20/03/2025 19:38

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:32

They don’t have to use procedures that involve children hiding under tables. They really don’t . That is silly- and potentially frightening for small children. . I don’t care if the government recommend it - they recommend all kinds of ridiculous things - eg sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

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The govt suggestion is that lockdown drills in primary and younger are for staff only.

Kids are generally more resilient to this sort of thing than you seem to give them credit for though.

To think it's very depressing that school children need to learn this
Shessweetbutapsycho · 20/03/2025 19:37

JaninaDuszejko · 20/03/2025 15:07

How have you got a child in Y7 and never realised this happens at schools in the UK? It's standard practice and has been for decades. Just like fire alarm practices and about as likely to happen.

My children haven’t done this drill, nor did I or anyone else I know (or anyone else’s children I know) 🤷‍♀️

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:37

echt · 20/03/2025 19:35

You can use it but you'll get called out.

What makes you think fire drills aren't frightening?

Show quote history

You can use it but you'll get called out

by who? You ? 😂. If I had directed it at a woman or at women as a group you might have a point. Otherwise it’s a perfectly ordinary word.

What makes you think fire drills aren't frightening?

Because they aren’t.

Ilovecleaning · 20/03/2025 19:36

WWII? Gas masks? Fire drills. It’s safety. Unless you live in Stepford, this is life.

echt · 20/03/2025 19:35

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:34

lol we are not allowed to use the word hysteria?

Fire drills are fine, because a) it’s an actual risk and b) it’s not frightening.

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You can use it but you'll get called out.

What makes you think fire drills aren't frightening?

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:34

echt · 20/03/2025 19:33

So how do the compulsory fire drills sit with you?

And less of the misogynistic language while you're at it.

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lol we are not allowed to use the word hysteria?

Fire drills are fine, because a) it’s an actual risk and b) it’s not frightening.

deeahgwitch · 20/03/2025 19:33

MidnightPatrol · 20/03/2025 15:07

Yes, it is a shame.

But, as we know from the case in the papers this week, it is a genuine (if very small) risk.

This.
Sadly

echt · 20/03/2025 19:33

Tandora · 20/03/2025 19:27

Personally I think the drills are completely ridiculous and no I wouldn’t want my child doing them. Thankfully she’s at a school that doesn’t buy into the hysteria.

Show quote history

So how do the compulsory fire drills sit with you?

And less of the misogynistic language while you're at it.