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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:
bemoresloth · 09/10/2025 11:48

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 11:30

Yes reported in the local press.

I never said anyones race did have anything to do with this. I said they had in the past and I was wondering if that is why they don't report any incidents until they have to do so. They got it so wrong with the reporting on Stockport (saying he was a Cardiff boy) and then the speculation over the man who drove the car into the crowd in Manchester (who turned out to be white British).
Don't try and make this post about race - this is about the press choosing what they report on and what they don't.

Show quote history

Stockport?

You mean Southport.

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

Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 11:38

Greggsit · 09/10/2025 11:07

Has your child never come home saying that "a big dog came into the playground so we all had to go inside"? Schools practice lockdowns, they just don't do it in a way that would upset the children. This isn't the US where they have to practice active shooter drills and kids are very aware of gun crime. This is done quietly and appropriatly so that the kids don't even know the drills have happened.

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.

OP posts:
NinaS368 · 09/10/2025 11:36

I’m a teacher … we have had several lockdowns over the years, all due to parents threatening the school. These are usually over quickly and nothing has ever actually come of it. We practice lockdown drills through the year.

My school is on a busy high street in a city centre and we do regularly get reports rung in of people looking into / loitering near the school. These are investigated quickly but almost always turn out to be absolutely nothing.

tripleginandtonic · 09/10/2025 11:33

Seriously OP, you don't think it would be national news if an armed masked gang entered a school?

bookworm14 · 09/10/2025 11:32

(saying he was a Cardiff boy)

He was born in Cardiff, though. His parents were immigrants, which was very quickly reported. There was no attempt to hide his background.

Original poster
Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 11:30

Morningsleepin · 09/10/2025 11:10

So now you say these lockdowns are being reported. And what has anyone's race got to do with all this?

Show quote history

Yes reported in the local press.

I never said anyones race did have anything to do with this. I said they had in the past and I was wondering if that is why they don't report any incidents until they have to do so. They got it so wrong with the reporting on Stockport (saying he was a Cardiff boy) and then the speculation over the man who drove the car into the crowd in Manchester (who turned out to be white British).
Don't try and make this post about race - this is about the press choosing what they report on and what they don't.

OP posts:
Morningsleepin · 09/10/2025 11:10

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:34

OK but I find it odd that the news outlets haven’t removed the stories if they are false.

Show quote history

So now you say these lockdowns are being reported. And what has anyone's race got to do with all this?

Greggsit · 09/10/2025 11:07

Has your child never come home saying that "a big dog came into the playground so we all had to go inside"? Schools practice lockdowns, they just don't do it in a way that would upset the children. This isn't the US where they have to practice active shooter drills and kids are very aware of gun crime. This is done quietly and appropriatly so that the kids don't even know the drills have happened.

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 09/10/2025 11:06

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

DashboardConfession · 09/10/2025 11:06

Lockdowns happen all the time. My best friend is a teacher in an area of the North East and they had one a few months ago. It was a disgruntled dad trying to smash his way in to see his children (who he was quite rightly prevented from seeing). Police arrived and he was arrested.

PollyBell · 09/10/2025 11:00

Because the world has enough conspiracy theorists?

Original poster
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.

OP posts:
Arlanymor · 09/10/2025 10:56

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:34

OK but I find it odd that the news outlets haven’t removed the stories if they are false.

Show quote history

Because then idiots would start rattling on about their removal and making it into some kind of conspiracy theory. Also it's poor journalistic practice to just delete stories - you amend them instead.

I don't think major news stories get missed, but 99% of the time lockdowns are precautionary and don't come to anything. It's like saying report on it each time a school fire alarm goes off without it being a test - I've never been in a fire at a school but I remember going to line up on the playground about a dozen times because of a false alarm. Same equivalence. Only report when it's worth reporting.

KoiTetra · 09/10/2025 10:55

@Lazytiger, so would you like the national press to report every single school lockdown no matter what the reasons?

Schools are very very cautious as you would expect. Any reports of anything in the local area they lock down. I don't know the figures but I would imagine 95%+ of school lockdowns are for errors (such as the ones people reported here, maintenance staff with a pointy stick, member of the public with a knife that wasn't a knife) or they are for totally separate events that happen in the local area but are in no way related to the school.

If your second example had actually happened as described, a masked gang "invaded" the school and threated staff and pupils I would absolutely expect this to be fairly headline news. A school locked down because someone thought the say a man a mile down the road with a knife that turned out to be a comb... not so much.

Faceonthewrongfoot · 09/10/2025 10:49

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:38

The article I read said masked men had entered and threaten teacher and staff. If this is not the case and those reports are still out there then they need to be retracted. These are from local news outlets not conspiracy websites.

Show quote history

I've just looked at the GB news article and a couple of local ones. They all have the quote from the police (at the bottom of the article) saying that they were called to investigate reported sightings of a gang, but no gangs were found in the area. So basically they've just kept their sensational headline but then updated the content quietly at the bottom.

Edited to add: the local articles are almost word for word copies of the GB article

bemoresloth · 09/10/2025 10:45

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:38

The article I read said masked men had entered and threaten teacher and staff. If this is not the case and those reports are still out there then they need to be retracted. These are from local news outlets not conspiracy websites.

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Can you at least link to these articles?

Goldeh · 09/10/2025 10:43

Wakeuplittlebunnies · 09/10/2025 10:39

Why is GB news so obsessed with race?

Dog-whistling to the lowest common denominators within society to try and increase their views. Basically the televisual equivalent of click-bait rather than actual serious news.

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 09/10/2025 10:42

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:38

The article I read said masked men had entered and threaten teacher and staff. If this is not the case and those reports are still out there then they need to be retracted. These are from local news outlets not conspiracy websites.

Show quote history

Contact the sites and complain then.

SaveItForTheBirds · 09/10/2025 10:42

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:34

OK but I find it odd that the news outlets haven’t removed the stories if they are false.

Show quote history

But the 'news outlets' you're referring to aren't really news outlets. They're just propaganda machines with their own agendas. They don't care one bit for journalistic standards, or if they're stretching the facts, their whole MO is to stir up hatred and division.

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 09/10/2025 10:40

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:34

OK but I find it odd that the news outlets haven’t removed the stories if they are false.

Show quote history

Why would GB news and other trash sites remove false articles? They want to whip up the idiots into a frenzy and get them protesting over imaginary enemies. They know their readers are mostly not very bright and unlikely to research further.

Goldeh · 09/10/2025 10:40

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:34

OK but I find it odd that the news outlets haven’t removed the stories if they are false.

Show quote history

The stories present the known facts about the issue as they were understood at the time the article was written. Why would they go back revise the article, especially as people like you would then accuse them of altering the news to fit some tin-hat agenda?

Wakeuplittlebunnies · 09/10/2025 10:39

Why is GB news so obsessed with race?

Ketzele · 09/10/2025 10:39

Ill tell you what did get into national news, though - our school closed for one day this week because an external contractor died (natural causes) on the premises. Which is very sad, but news?

Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride · 09/10/2025 10:39

Lazytiger · 09/10/2025 10:34

OK but I find it odd that the news outlets haven’t removed the stories if they are false.

Show quote history

Well, looking at the news outlets involved, they have got a bit of an agenda.