Lockdown drills in UK schools

[RoseslnTheHospital]

These were mentioned on another thread, and I genuinely had never heard of a school in the UK regularly doing lockdown drills with their children. In the manner of the active shooter drills in the USA. Apparently there's an official government example of a drill routine and policy on the gov.uk site.

So, I was wondering, do you know if your children's school do these drills, or if they have a published policy on their website?

My daughter who finished school a couple of years back went to a private school. They did some low key drills in primary, but Secondary they were pretty full on. Doors locked, covered door windows, hide at the back of classes behind furniture, or solid walls in silence. They were taught situational awareness and when to run and when to hide, always look for exits etc as well.

There were a couple of kids with links to MP’s and a pupil was kidnapped from there in the very early 2000s, so that could have been the reason the drills were quite so extreme?

Sounds sensible. Anything that can reduce panic in an emergency is a good idea.

I was thinking that. Plus many children are scared of dogs so wouldn't find that comforting.
Dd1 was badly scared of dogs and would have found the suggestion that they might have to hide because there was a dog loose in the playground not just terrifying during the lockdown, but because she would then think it was a genuine risk, she'd then be scared of being in the playground.
I think she'd have been far less scared at being told "man with a gun" as she wouldn't have thought that anything like as likely.

Ours do it. At infant level I think it was presented as a game of hide and seek for the best class. Juniors, they were just told it was a drill like a fire practice, although one of the teachers did it as "earthquake" drill as they'd been doing about Japan and they were told that school in Japan do that.
At secondary they tell them straight. I'm told it's very boring, and the school always texts before they do it, then afterwards, presumably so any child who texts their parents saying "we're in lockdown" doesn't panic them.

@MargaretThursday but a dog is a much more likely scenario than a lion! And surely more children would be scared by the thought of a lion in the playground.

It is much more likely sold as we don’t want to scare the dog rather than the dog being dangerous

In some rural schools they will often get livestock on the playfield so will be used to being asked to go indoors whilst the animals are removed. Most schools will have different levels of lockdown, so just being in classroom, then blinds may need to be lowered, to doors being barricaded and hiding under desks/in store cupboard

I'm in Australia, our secondary and primary schools do lockdown drills fairly frequently (my school is twice a year with a fire drill in the other terms). Our childcare centres are required by law to do lockdown and fire drills regularly as well. Lockdowns are for things like strangers on campus, snakes, chemical spills etc.

I tell my class that 'dog in the playground' drill is to protect the dog who would be scared if all the children chased after it to stroke it.

They wanted to know why we didn't have 'cat in the playground' drill, but seemed fine with the explanation that cats can jump over the wall to get away when they've had enough of the children but dogs can't.

Yes our kids do them.

My DH school is within a few miles of oil refineries/chemical plants so theirs includes industrial incidents.

We also have a lockdown policy in work (public sector building) and a specific alarm - it's a long continuous one.

Slightly off topic but I recall a crib sheet placed in the top of all work console drawers in case someone called us to say there was a bomb. This so we could ask the caller certain important questions. We had these until about 2017 I think.

DD never did one at her posh village secondary but DS does them twice a year at his secondary in a dodgy area.

They had to do a real ‘code 1’ yesterday at my nieces school, someone entered the school with a weapon. The children knew what to do as they had practiced a code 1 situation apparently. They turned the lights out and the children hid under the desks. My children have never done this in their schools as far as I know but I will be asking them on Monday if they practice these with the children.

My DS's primary school used to do them and use them often when there was an issue with an individual child's behaviour. Think throwing chairs, smashing windows. It's sad to think that this became part of their everyday.

Dds secondary do them.
A message flashes up on the big screen, the door is locked and the kids get behind desks away from the windows. Dd said it was fun.

Have no idea if this is normal practice or not. But I went to school near a military base at a time when the IRA were very active and I remember doing bomb scare drills alongside fire drills...

DS primary doesn't. Which is a bit surprising, as they did once have a man climb over the school fence during playtime and run around trying to get into the building. Luckily he wasn't trying to hurt anyone (MH issues) but the poor teachers on duty must have had a fright.

We don't have lockdown drills in my school in Scotland but we do have lockdown procedures that the teachers know of and a whistle blowing alert signal that again, only teachers know of. Working abroad I have had to do lockdown drills involving hiding under tables and barricading the door - not pleasant.

No more obvious than if he can see the kids sitting at their desks surely?

My school does drills twice a year. My child's school had to do a real one a few weeks ago, on advice of the local police, as a man with a weapon was spotted walking close to his school. He said it was done with minimum fuss, nobody in his class panicked, and it was all over in time to go for lunch.

Should add that the drill is everybody stays in the classroom, or goes to the one used for their last lesson if at break, classroom doors are locked and teachers take a register. If some poor sod is in the toilet they get to the nearest classroom and a message is sent to their teacher to mark him present on the lockdown register.

They had to be used in our town a couple of years ago when there was a guy with a knife moving around town. He eventually spent a couple of hours sat on play equipment in the park refusing to surrender.

My nephews preschool was less then 10 mins walk from there. The children were kept late, all sat in a circle in the middle of a room reading stories. He had no idea what happened.

There’s a primary right by that park which was crawling with police to keep the kids safe.

It's surely better to have a policy and never use it than to need one and not have it?

I've done a lockdown drill once at secondary, but all schools should have policies for "invacuation" i.e. it's not safe to be outside/wandering around and also for intruders. Generally in the UK they wouldn't be shooters but it's not impossible they could be armed.

Having lights off and children not visible is in part so an intruder can't work out which classrooms are in use, and also partly so they can't easily identify specific children. An intruder in a UK school is most likely to be looking for someone specific.

Are lockdowns more common near high security prisons in case of escapees? We’re in Norfolk and I don’t know any one who has ever down a lockdown drill.

The most is fire drill once every few months.

Friends live near a secure hospital so they have regular lockdown practise in their schools.

In our city, my kids' primary school have ocassionally done a 'dog in the playground' drill but had to actually do the drill for real when there was a naked man running around the park next door (only a 4ft fence behind the hedge to the park, so possible a determined naked man might have jumped it). My son was very pleased as they couldn't go in the main playground so instead each class took it in turns to use the nursery playground (and he got to play in the sandpit!!).

I've never done one in the secondary school I work in.

It wasn't me that suggested a lion.

However I think the fact a lion would be unikely would make the children less likely to worry about it.

I mean, I don't worry that my house is going to be flooded when it rains because we live at the top of a hill, so it would be not very likely to reach us even with extensive flooding.
However I do worry about the tree next to our house coming down in the wind because it is a definite possibility.

My kids go to school in Italy and they have fire drills and earthquake drills. (For the former you get out, the latter under the tables). I've never heard of any other drills either here or in the UK.

@MargaretThursday but you didn’t like the idea of using a dog as a reason for a lockdown drill. If you told children that you had to practise a lockdown drill just in case a lion was in the playground, unless the school was next to a safari park, they wouldn’t take it seriously. Whereas, the dog scenario is something they could picture.

Most parents in this country would be up in arms if the lockdown drill for Primary pupils was based on a American type shooter situation

Our school in Scotland (junior + senior) do them. The focus is mostly on getting kids secured inside, rather than hiding under desks.

They used it for real a few years ago - very high winds and branches started to come off trees in the grounds. (it's quite a rural school campus with big trees)

They regularly have dogs in the grounds. The headteacher has one in his office. I don't thik the dog rationale would work here 😁