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Original poster

Should the National press report on primary school lockdowns?

138 replies

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 09:23

Why aren’t the national press reporting the primary school lockdown near Birmingham? Only GB news and local news outlets reported it. I haven’t seen anything in the broadsheets/TV news.

AIBU to expect the National UK press to report things that happen in the UK?

In the last two days two school lockdowns have been reported, but only locally.

One was a report of schools in Weston-super-Mare that locked down due to a suspect person with a knife. The second was a school near Birmingham called Shireland Hall primary Academy. Where a gang wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons entered the school and threatened teachers and pupils.

Am I being unreasonable to expect the press to report what is happening in this country?

You may argue that the first schools didn’t come to any harm so perhaps nationally reporting something that would just cause concern is the right thing to do (I don’t, but understand others might) But the second school, I feel, should have been more widely reported. Perhaps it will be. But it happened on Tuesday and it is now Thursday.

Googling the school in Birmingham I was surprised to see Birmingham live have reported several lockdowns over the year and other schools in other areas come up in the search too.

I recall a while ago that we had rolling news on the fires in California. Other than telling us there had been fires in California the 24-7 News coverage wasn’t adding much detail. There were plenty of complaints at the time that this was to distract the population from the ongoing Rotherham case. Something that was of far more interest to the UK population. Thankfully the media didn’t succeed and people didn’t forget about those girls.

Is this the same reason for the under reporting - race relations?

Regardless of the worry these incidents may cause in the wider population I feel it is the job of the UK press to report these and to not, on our behalf, decide what we should be told and what we shouldn’t.

We had to listen to how many people died ‘with’ covid on a daily basis, yet there seems to be zero interest in reporting ongoing threats to our children.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:34

Greggsit · 09/10/2025 12:27

No. A lockdown is to deal with a POTENTIAL threat. In the two examples of lockdowns you gave, there was no threat to the children. You cannot react to the number of lockdowns when you don't know how many of them are false alarms. Increased reporting will only increase fear without follow-ups on whether they were justified or not. And "nothing happened" isn't news, not even GB-News.

And I also disagree with your statement of "kids don't need to learn to go inside". They absolutely do, when it's outside their normal routine. Do you also think "adults don't need to practice going outside"? Why do we have fire drills in that case?

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A lockdown is when the school is locked down and the police called. Simply that.

So kids stand in the playground all day do they or have they leaned how to go inside the school during the 7 years they attend primary?

OP posts:
Greggsit · 09/10/2025 12:33

The second example you give is different. And I am surprised that armed men entering a school and threatening children wasn’t reported widely.

It wasn't reported because it didn't happen!

despairofbadscience · 09/10/2025 12:31

You really think this should be National news!
in a local school recently there was a lockdown, a parent who has lost custody due to addiction issues screamed at the gates for half an hour until the police arrested them. Why on earth should that be on the six o’clock news!

ShesTheAlbatross · 09/10/2025 12:31

Our school went into lockdown about a year ago, there was a report of a man with a knife somewhere in the area. It was right at the end of the school day so they just kept the gates shut and did their lockdown procedures inside. It really didn’t feel like it warranted national attention tbh. I mean, obviously knife crime is awful, but in this situation nothing happened. So I wouldn’t say all school lockdowns should be reported.

Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:30

Mewling · 09/10/2025 12:08

You’re just shit stirring. Go outside, touch some grass. Maybe turn off GB News.

I don't watch GB news. I got the information from a local paper. If I did maybe I would have heard about lockdowns sooner. I'm asking what our national news is for if not to report what is happening in the UK.

OP posts:
PrincessOfPreschool · 09/10/2025 12:28

Goldeh · 09/10/2025 10:29

So I googled the schools you talked about.

Weston-super-mare: man not actually near or in a school or attempting to get into schools. A member of the public thought they saw an armed man, local area was put into precautionary lockdown while police did a search. After speaking to the public and reviewing various CCTV systems, police concluded it was a well-intentioned error on behalf of the person who reported it. In other words, a mistake. And these were details I found in a national newspaper, by the way so it was reported on.

The one in Birmingham: some parents noticed a group acting suspiciously near home time so the school was put into lockdown as a precaution. Police attended and found no gang in the area, nor had any staff seen said gang. Police are investigating but nothing so far. So again, probably a misunderstood situation or, dare I say, a little bit of drama-llama shit-stirring either for attention, to prove a point, or to cause trouble. Also, I again got these details from a national newspaper outlet.

Exactly this. And GB news are stirring. Locally, we had a homeless man found on secondary school grounds looking for food in bins. He offered no resistance when grounds staff asked him to leave. But this was 'reported' as an 'illegal immigrant' - he was a black man, not an 'illegal' at all - entering school grounds to hurt children. It was so ridiculous, parents refusing to send kids to school etc.

Greggsit · 09/10/2025 12:27

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:14

No they are not. Security is for prevention, a lockdown is to deal with an immediate threat.

Show quote history

No. A lockdown is to deal with a POTENTIAL threat. In the two examples of lockdowns you gave, there was no threat to the children. You cannot react to the number of lockdowns when you don't know how many of them are false alarms. Increased reporting will only increase fear without follow-ups on whether they were justified or not. And "nothing happened" isn't news, not even GB-News.

And I also disagree with your statement of "kids don't need to learn to go inside". They absolutely do, when it's outside their normal routine. Do you also think "adults don't need to practice going outside"? Why do we have fire drills in that case?

TheGreatWesternShrew · 09/10/2025 12:24

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:06

Looking at my search results this is happening regularly anyway. Isn’t it more likely they don’t want the mass protesting or people taking their children out of school?

Do you think it is reasonable for the press to control what we are told. Isn’t their job to report what is happening not act as gatekeepers for the government/police? Have they learned nothing from the diabolical reporting of the attack in Southport?

The first none Gaza/China spy/Tory conference/Beckham Netflix article on the Telegraph online today is “Police attacked with paint in Farrow & Ball standoff”. They think this is more important to report. Easier to report as they say the perpetrator has MH issues. A one off, nothing to see here but look at us doing our job and attending crime IRL. A nice PR piece.

No the press doesn’t care if you protest or take your kids out of school. In fact that’s just more news for them. It’s likely that other stories have just been prioritised from a public interest POV

Tillow4ever · 09/10/2025 12:22

You sound quite anxious OP, do you suffer from anxiety usually? If so, I think that might be at play here. If you don’t, maybe ask yourself why you are so focused on this. Why don’t you want your children practicing lockdown drills? Wouldn’t you rather they knew what to do in an actual emergency rather than panicking and being terrified?

Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:17

I've got to get on now and will mull over my own feelings on the matter. I've learned a lot from the responses on here, so thank you.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:14

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 09/10/2025 11:06

The lockdowns are just improved security, similar to schools now locking the gates and having buzz entry systems.

No they are not. Security is for prevention, a lockdown is to deal with an immediate threat.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:12

MemorableTrenchcoat · 09/10/2025 12:02

But nothing did happen. Someone thought they saw a bad thing, but they were actually talking nonsense. Do you really want the national news to feature reports every time a building is evacuated due to a false fire alarm, for example?

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Someone saw something and the police didn't find any evidence that is not the same this as someone talking nonsense.

Yes, I want to know how many lockdowns are happening in schools across the country. I don't think that is a big ask when I'd fed a diet of the Beckhams and Jennifer Aniston in the, supposed, broadsheets. I'm sure they could squeeze it on their online offering somewhere if they tried.

I don't want to suddenly do a google search and be surprised by the numbers of lockdowns happening. I thought lockdowns were a blue moon event (I consider these to be when the police is notified). Turns out they are not. I'm not going to turn into someone who sits at home googling all the local papers to see if a lockdown has been reported but there seems to be a big divide between those who think lockdowns are nothing to worry about and those who aren't even aware they are happening.

OP posts:
StarlightRobot · 09/10/2025 12:12

It sounds like a non story but GB News is capitalising on this because its racist viewers will be looking for more reasons to look down their noses on multi-ethnic Birmingham

Mewling · 09/10/2025 12:08

You’re just shit stirring. Go outside, touch some grass. Maybe turn off GB News.

justasoul · 09/10/2025 12:08

My sixth-form aged child had at least 2 lockdowns when she was in primary school, both strangers in the playground. Police were involved in one incident if I remember correctly. Parents were informed, children were unscarred. Lockdowns are not something new.

Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 12:03

Sadcafe · 09/10/2025 11:41

Schools lockdown for all sorts of reasons, drunken parents turning up , strangers wandering in the grounds, not every lockdown is because of a serious incident, thankfully few really are, do you really expect the national news to cover such things, unless it genuinely and sadly is serious

Why not? I mean my original post is about lockdowns where the police have been called, not just children being removed from an area of the school for a limited time to avoid them seeing any unpleasantness. But why not report this nationally? Do we not need to know that our schools are becoming unsafe? That parents wander into schools drunk and cause problem for teachers and pupils? Is that not newsworthy? Is this not worthy of out-range that teachers are subjected to this? Is this not a national problem just a local one?

If, as a nation, we do not know what is happening in each others regions how can we support each other and make things better? Aren't the subpostmasters a lesson in what happens if you are allowed to treat one big national scandal as just a few occurrences over many geographical areas? Don't let them know that this is a bigger issue? That is the point of national news. To tell us what is happening else where in the country.

We are fed a diet of junk news, about global issues and celebrities, things that we can't do anything about. Things that are going on in our own country, the changes in our schools aren't being reported. They are being accepted. As you say they aren't deemed as newsworthy because they are judged as individual events, they are not reported collectively as a wake up call that things aren't heading in the right direction.

OP posts:
MemorableTrenchcoat · 09/10/2025 12:02

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:57

Good I’m glad these reports came to nothing but I was quite shocked that a quick Google search showed lockdowns weren’t uncommon.

To me that is big news as I wasn’t even aware it was something that was happening. I knew Jewish schools had upped their security but had no idea other schools were engaging in lockdowns.
When did locking down primary schools become the norm? As someone with children a primary school this has never been raised and they certainly don’t practice it (I’ve asked).

Im afraid I don’t see these events as ‘nothing happened’. I think locking down schools isn’t normal.

Edited

But nothing did happen. Someone thought they saw a bad thing, but they were actually talking nonsense. Do you really want the national news to feature reports every time a building is evacuated due to a false fire alarm, for example?

IdaGlossop · 09/10/2025 12:02

National news outlets are not a public information service. Their role is to judge if a lockdown is a story of national significance. If it is, they will cover it. If it isn't, they won't. There are so many schools lockouts that they couldn't possibly cover them all.

HRchatter · 09/10/2025 12:00

Leamington Spa College had a similar incident. The press reported very freely on that.

DashboardConfession · 09/10/2025 11:57

bemoresloth · 09/10/2025 11:48

Stockport?

You mean Southport.

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I also think she must mean Liverpool and not Manchester as the perpetrator of Manchester last week was not white.

despairofbadscience · 09/10/2025 11:56

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 11:38

No. They absolutely haven't and going inside a school isn't a something you need to practice or notify the police about.

"This is done quietly and appropriatly so that the kids don't even know the drills have happened." Or the parents it would seem! I'm not OK with that.

If my child is being covertly drilled in what to do in a lockdown then I want to know about it. I want to be able to talk to them about it. Reassure them. This would be massive overreach of the state and schools, to do this without informing parents.

Ditto I want to know how common they are in the UK, how statistically likely it is that they could be involved in one. If they are increasing so I can have a sensible conversation about it.

A lockdown event is not harmless event if the outcome is.

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In can guarantee your children schools have done lockdown drills. It’s just sensible. Your kids don’t need a drama made out of it. It’s the same as doing a fire drill.

DashboardConfession · 09/10/2025 11:55

My son's primary sent us a letter last week that there will be a lockdown drill on a date in October. It's a very thorough letter. If you aren't happy about not being told, speak to the school.

sambasunsays · 09/10/2025 11:48

And the Southport attacker was from Cardiff. So what was inaccurate about that?

sambasunsays · 09/10/2025 11:48

@Lazytigerlots of people in here have given you examples of why schools might implement a “lockdown”. I think the word itself has connotations due incidents such as school shootings in the states.
issues happen all the time in the community and always have that mean that schools need to be proactive in implementing a temporary increase in security. It’s nothing new, but the term “lockdown” most likely is.