"Safety procedure" at school..anyone heard of it

[josiewosiee]

A friend mentioned today that her dd school had practiced a safety procedure at school, where shutters come down, doors are locked and children go under the desks. I have never heard of it, but apparently it is happening in all schools. To be honest, it frightened me a little. First I have heard of it though, anyone else heard of it

They had to use it for real in our primary after the Manchester bombings.
Was very scary :(

Yes my daughter (8) has lockdown practise, we're in the North West of England. Has been doing these for 2/3 years.

DS's high school did this a couple of months ago. Parents were advised, via text message the day before, that the practice was taking place.

Our schools have a safety procedure in case of escape from Broadmoor hospital as we are only a mile away

There’s lock down and lock out. Also once our whole school had to walk to another nearby school to shelter in their gym in case of attack. Yes in the UK.

they call in 'invacuation' at dc school.
sadly totally normal and needed.

My DD's primary had it. They told the little ones it was in case a dog got into the playground. The older ones sussed out what it was for.

Well it's not happening in my school. Fire drills, yes. This, no.

I regularly teach in half a dozen local primaries in a leafy suburban area with a low crime rate. They’ve all got a lockdown procedure.
You may not know about it as it’s low-key and designed not to terrify children, but I’d be surprised if schools didn’t have one.

@EggysMom the SEN schools I know of do it too. Just as they do fire drills. Some classes need adaptations to the drill, but all do what is practically possible. It would be appalling if your child was not protected in the same way as mainstream children.

DDs school had to go into lockdown once when the police warned that there was an armed man close to the school. (There wasn’t as it turned out). It was total chaos as no one had a clue what to do. Practicing it beforehand would have really helped.

Since Dunblane in '96 there have been no mass shootings in UK schools. We swiftly changed gun laws and introduced security measures like coded door locks and fencing.

US style lock downs with children under desks or tiny ones crammed into cupboards and coaxed into lengthy periods of total silence are unneccessary in the UK and potentially damaging.

I suspect some schools and academy trusts are aping US practice. I will fight tooth and nail to prevent this being introduced in the trust in which I play a role.

I saw this practice in action in the US and was glad we had no need of it here, yet now it creeps in by the back door. Safeguarding practices are designed to keep children safe, not traumatise them with nightmares and anxiety.

Fire drills yes, of course; lock downs, perhaps, especially in city schools or isolated rural ones; lengthy huddling in silent, manufactured terror in dark cupboards or under desks, no thank you!

We live in China and my children's school does a lock down procedure. They switch off the lights, lock the door, stay silent and make sure they cannot be seen from the window in the door - usually means sitting against the wall.

DD's school did these (boarding) they had to learn 4 different drills to reflect different threats eg fire, intruder, bomb, etc

Yes we do lockdown drill in the school I work in. A school local to me had to use it for real when an angry dad came in with a knife.

Invacuation- google and multiple school websites and LA policies come up.

I sometimes feel like I’m the only person who remembers poor Nikki Conroy when people talk about such drills and security systems as very new or OTT.

My dc haven't said they've had one. Will ask later. I just think it's sad that dc have to practice stuff like this.
I know its moving with the times but it just feels wrong.

I don't remember that happening to Nikki Conroy at all, and I was at high school myself when it happened.

Absolute horror

I sometimes feel like I’m the only person who remembers poor Nikki Conroy when people talk about such drills and security systems as very new or OTT.

Or indeed Dunblane. Which was in 1996, so it's hardly a new thing.

I'm glad they have a drill for it. And my children's secondary school have had cause to use it when the Police chased an intruder across the playing fields.

After dunblane i’m surprised it wasn’t introduced.

DD's school have it, used for real once a few years ago (when DS1 was a student) when there was a man on the street outside waving an axe around and 'behaving in a threatening manner'. All doors locked, blinds pulled, but no going under desks. London secondary.
I don't know if DS2's primary have one, I assume not as neither he nor DD (only left in July) have ever spoke about it.

My daughters’ high school has a lock down drill every year and has for the last few years

They’ve had to use it for real twice - once when a man was seen on school grounds with a crossbow and again during an incident with one of the students

They never did it in primary school as far as I know

Standard procedure both my older DCs primary school and my youngest nursery school does this

I have children at state primary and secondary schools in Scotland and they've not practised a lockdown drill. Fire drills yes.