If your primary school (UK) went into lockdown

[RainyWeekend]

Would you do as the school suggest and go to a local named venue for information or would you go straight to the school?

An incident has happened locally and parents were urged not to go to the school. Local schools have gone into lockdown.

But seriously? I really don't think I'd be able to stop myself. Yes yes, I know it it not the right thing to do but how would you be able to keep away?

I feel sick just thinking about it.

I think based on what i saw happen at the school in Uvalde (where police waited ages before doing anything and in meantime kids were shot) my instinct would be to try and get to the school. Im not suggesting our forces wouldn’t handle a similar situation as expertly as they could, but i think thats where my mind would go.

lots of other variables to consider though, like how safe it was, would you be in the way or further compromise safety etc…

How do you think you'd feel when your 'instincts' make the situation worse? If it is your child who's injured and the ambulance didn't get there in time because you needed to be close to the school and have blocked access. Or ot isn't your child, but police/ambulance doesn't get there because of you and your inability to stay away and that child dies?

I'd stay away because they won't let you in and actually it's not me my child needs in that moment. It's an ambulance. It's the police.

All our schools went into lockdown a few months ago because someone reported a man walking past the road where two primaries are with a shotgun. I don’t know anyone who attempted to go to the school. Maybe some people were stupid enough. Afaik everyone just Facebooked madly.

So true. People turning up en masse does nothing but cause problems and hinder those dealing with it.

One of the schools round here has a new fire alarm system and you can hear it outside the building. They had to send out letters to parents asking them not to phone endlessly if they hear the alarm as people were clogging the answer machine while everyone was outside and then phoning endlessly after they went back in

This!

My DS's school went into lockdown when there was a credible threat of an active shooter. I had randomly turned up at the school to drop off his blazer as it was photos day and there were armed police on the gates., a tad surprising in rural Surrey. I went to my SIL's house nearby and had coffee with her while I waited for news. I figured that there was no point in me blocking the road nearby as there was nothing I could do apart from get in the way.
It turned out it was a disgruntled ex pupil who had called making the threats and all was well, the kids had a whale of a time shut in the gym (only room with no windows) they found it all very exciting and the teachers did a sterling job keeping them amused.

The most surprising thing about this thread is the number of lockdowns happening in UK schools. Since my kids are college/Uni age this has surprised and shocked me. :(

There was an incident that resulted in my primary school going into lockdown when I was a kid. We were totally oblivious until parents came to pick us up early.

It happened in my town a few years ago. Parents were told and requested to stay away until the area was cleared and then they would allow children home early.

Apparently it was awful - parents wailing at the gates, demanding to be let in, making threats to staff if their child wasn’t released immediately. The parents’ response was more newsworthy than the reason for the lockdown…

I’m not sure how I’d react but I hope not like that!

I'm local to this school as well.
Other local schools have been practicing lockdowns the last couple months (and those who haven't probably will now) and I honestly thought it was overboard. I am now eating my words..

My instinct would say be there, but I imagine a lot of the parents stood outside right now are within walking distance so felt they wouldn't be blocking roads with parking.
And the emergency services were at the school within minutes according to news articles.
I would be as close as I could be but not with a crowd, I'd try and tuck myself somewhere out the way. Depends on your school situ though, this school is on a main road in and out of the town to the motorway.

This happened at a local school not so long ago - the amount of idiots who turned up was unreal, emergency services couldn't get through and in the end had to park about 500 yards away and walk over.

Absolutely ridiculous, the amount of people who think instructions don't apply to them these days is staggering!

My DC’s school went into lockdown 3 years ago. Luckily the parents weren’t dicks and we were able to safely collect our children when the incident was over. I’d be fucking raging if others parents inability to follow basic instructions put my DC at risk. It doesn’t mean I don’t care, it means I understand the need to be guided by those on the ground.

I thought you were meaning a covid lockdown.

I don’t think our schools here have another kind of lockdown. Other than a fire alarm? And I am thinking if there was an actual fire the school would call us to collect?

We have no other emergency responses to my knowledge, especially in the primary where there would be no way to cut that off from its environs anyway.

There a significant number of parents at our school who wouldn't give a flying fuck what they'd been asked to do. Tbh they don't give a shit about not driving/parking dangerously outside the school on a normal day.

I'd hope that the police would very quickly establish a cordon far away from the school gates- you can't really expect all parents to make sensible decisions in this sort of situation.

I think it's mandatory for all UK primary schools to have and to practise an "invacuation" (ie opposite of evacuation - keeping everyone inside) procedure.

I’m in the US, but my DD has been at school in serious lockdown twice.

first when she was 3 years old and a bank nearby was robbed. The robber fled on foot onto the forested school grounds. I stayed home as we were asked to do. We were sent regular updates via text. The children never even knew anything happened, though they did have an extra long school session that day which was indoors (quite unusual for them as it was a forest school).

the second when a student brought a gun to the school campus, though thankfully to the building next door. It was never fired. Students reported the other student and the offending student was taken into custody. I stayed home and got regular updates via text.

as tempting as it might be to go up to the school, you are just going to get in the way. We have an emergency alert system set up and they use it. Normally it covers quite benign things like inclement weather or maintenance problems.

i was a nervous wreck in both of these incidents, but being there would not have helped. In fact it might have made it harder to get information because too many people in one location might slow down cell service.

There was an incident (thankfully it was a false alarm) at my granddaughter's school a few years ago and they went into lockdown.

It wasn't announced, but I was working in Children's Services at the time.

I was really upset and frightened for her, thinking that my 6 year old granddaughter would be so frightened.

It was my day to collect her from school and after I gave her a bigger than usual hug, I asked if anything different happened at school today. She said yes - we all went into the hall and watched a film.

The children had no knowledge of any drama. The school had a contingency plan for that kind of event, and executed it brilliantly.

So chances are, the children in the locked down schools are blissfully unaware of anything untoward.

Most schools in England do lockdown drills, so hopefully the children in the Primary school in this area which did a precautionary lockdown will have practised one before and will take it in their stride.

Hopefully, schools that have never done a drill will be now

Genuine question (not goady): why did the school today need to 'lock down' for more than 3 hours, for an incident that the police and ambulance services had probably resolved within an hour?

It feels very authoritarian to me as a parent to be told - you cannot collect your child until we say you can.

But what are you going to do when you get there faced with a shooter with an AK47?

A park?

My first thought was Grenfell too.

People were also told in the WTC south tower to stay put, after the north tower had been hit.

I think my instinct would be 'survival of the fittest'. There comes a point in crisis where it really can become every man for himself, look at ship accidents where even the captain abandoned the vessel.

I'd do what I instinctively felt was best for the survival of myself and loved ones.

I’d hope that statistics of me being hit amongst all the other people in the building were slim and hope I get out with my child alive.

If my child is going to be one of the statistics anyway, I’d want to at least try.

I would RACE there. And probably try to enter the school.