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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you leave your child in a school with a bomb scare?

50 replies

DiplomaticDecorum · 13/04/2018 10:06

All over the local and social media right now in East Yorkshire. Bomb threat/scare to a number of primary and secondary schools. Quite a few schools are closing/closed, the police say it's a hoax (according to one of the schools staying open). S do you leave your child at school knowing that a lot of kids are already safe at home? Or are you confident that it's a hoax?

www.facebook.com/DriffieldWoldsWeekly/?hc_ref=ARRYSIQS9PcaV4yrx60TAjsJcgLA1GC45G1QDqrr6MJf7OuPS0cgfF9QTi-FFvcO9X0&fref=nf

OP posts:
Lightsong · 13/04/2018 10:11

Our schools had this a couple of weeks ago, it was a hoax. I collected DD early even though I knew 99% it would turn out to be a hoax, I just couldn't risk the chance, however small, that something might happen and I had left her there. Luckily her school had a parent event on anyway meaning the kids weren't alarmed at parents turning up to collect early. I don't know what on earth these lunatics get out of doing this kind of thing.

Nicknacky · 13/04/2018 10:13

We had this in my area at a few of the schools and during it all my daughter stayed at school. I was even aware of an ongoing incident at her school while I was at work (police). I wasn’t worried and didn’t even consider her staying at home.

MotherofDinosaurs · 13/04/2018 10:14

There is no way on earth I would leave my child there, just on the tiniest minuscule chance it might not be a hoax

italiancortado · 13/04/2018 10:15

Nope. I would collect my child ASAP.

dingdongdigeridoo · 13/04/2018 10:17

We had this a couple of weeks ago. Someone threatening to run children over at home time, so of course the school was on lockdown. I picked up DS as I thought it might be quite upsetting and confusing for him. I knew it was a stupid hoax, as it had been sent to a load of schools, but couldn’t imagine leaving him.

StealthPolarBear · 13/04/2018 10:17

We had this a couple of weeks ago. The school my children have recently left apparently didn't tell the parents which most seemed to think was sensible.
I was aware it was happening (in general rather than at that school) and felt jittery all afternoon but it was of course nothing.
Not sure that helps. Rationally I know the danger is very small. In reality I'd want them hone with me.

MiaowTheCat · 13/04/2018 10:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StealthPolarBear · 13/04/2018 10:19

They caught the young person who was responsible a couple of weeks ago so this must be someone else. Some sick and stupid people around. But why is this so popular (for want of a better word) at the moment.

Original poster
DiplomaticDecorum · 13/04/2018 10:19

Not gone to get him yet - am very almost totally sure that it is a hoax, as are the police and most of the schools.

But what if it isn't?

OP posts:
MagicFajita · 13/04/2018 10:22

My son was in reception year during the London tube bombings. We lived in London about a mile from one of the bombings. I picked him up early but felt that he was safest in school and that I was safest staying put and not travelling to his school until the dust had settled.

If the threat was to the school I'd have picked him up immediately.

DobbyisFREE · 13/04/2018 10:32

Missing a single day of school isn't going to do any harm is it? I'm confident that the police are right and that it is a hoax but it's not worth even the smallest risk in my opinion. Have a fun bonding day together instead!

I'm not a parent (yet) so my opinion comes from no protective instinct and I'm confident that I'm being rational!

BewareOfDragons · 13/04/2018 10:40

I work in one of the schools we had this at right before the Easter Break, and my children are in the school as well.

We took it seriously and kept children in, took extra precautions when it came to windows, etc, but at the same time, knew it was likely a hoax. We alerted parents and made sure parents collected children at the end of the day with a confirmed visual.

BarbarianMum · 13/04/2018 10:43
RedSkyAtNight · 13/04/2018 10:43

Similar hoax in my area a couple of years ago, I wasn't even aware about it until the end of the day when DC mentioned there'd been some police presence at school.

I wouldn't get my DC, I suspect the risk of being knocked down by a car as parents stampede to school is greater :)

Ethelswith · 13/04/2018 10:47

Yes, because my DC are secondary age, and I can remember a bomb scare at my school when I was that age. And as far as I can tell, their schools have proper and rehearsed procedures, and would be acting with the police and I'm ok with both those doing the right thing.

Also, if it meant the school was to close for the rest of the day, I would expect them to dismiss pupils to make their own ways home, as that is normal, and because if there was a bomb having more people in the area makes it harder for the emergency services

The instructions for the primary IIRC stated that parents were not to go to the site because of risk of preventing safe evacuation by creating congestion just at the moment it was not wanted. If/when DC did need collection, parents would be informed when and - crucially - where, because depending on nature of incident, some year groups might be taken to local community hall, library, or park.

Katyb1310 · 13/04/2018 10:50

How can they be sure it's a hoax? That's what always worries me with these things.

BarbarianMum · 13/04/2018 10:55

How many times have you heard of a bomb being found in a school Katy? Let alone detonating in one? Ever?

Katyb1310 · 13/04/2018 11:03

I'm well aware of the fact that there hasn't yet been one barbarianmum but you never know when it might be the first time. How many times had you ever heard of anything like the Dunblane thing before it happened?

moreDetails · 13/04/2018 11:07

Katy

They have theirs ways but obviously don't make their abilities public.

I help make software which traces things like hoaxes. It's complex but surprisingly successful and for that reason I'd leave my children at school.

Gone are the 'good' old days when there were warnings before bombs (IRA etc).

People can talk about "tiniest miniscule chances" but the same applies to everything we do in life.

Going to avoid crowded areas, capital cities, public transport etc?

You need to think this through. and realise that the sensible reaction isn't collecting your child and taking them home. For a start, what if there is a bomb and it's in an area you're walking through on the way out of the school? This is a more likely scenario than a device being in a classroom.

Original poster
DiplomaticDecorum · 13/04/2018 11:08

Is it really nationwide? Is everyone picking kids up from schools right now? Humberside have said this

Statement regarding hoax

13 Apr 2018
Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Miller said: “We’ve been made aware of a hoax email sent to schools in the force area this morning 13 April 2018.
“We want to categorically reassure parents and children, staff and the wider public that this a non-credible threat that has been sent nationwide. Our primary concern is to ensure that schools are given guidance, up-to-date information and reassurance and above all that everyone is safe. Community officers have already been sent to schools to provide that reassurance.”

OP posts:
BarbarianMum · 13/04/2018 11:09

Not sure I see the point your making. Pretty sure that false reports of armed people intending to gain access to schools aren't a thing, nor are false reports of school shootings.

Seriously, do you think that the IRA (who were the group that issued warnings) are planning to bomb UK schools now? And if Daesh plantings a bomb in a school there will be no warning. So who do you think will be 1. planting a bomb in a school to kill children and then 2. giving the police a heads-up that it's there?

NiceHotBath · 13/04/2018 11:12

I would leave my kids at school. In the same way as I don't hesitate to take them in to central London.

The odds of being hurt by a car while walking to school are much higher than of being hurt by a bomb, and we do that every day without thinking about it.

bobstersmum · 13/04/2018 11:13

Oh god no, more than my anxiety could take in afraid. I would be there so fast to collect.

GreenTulips · 13/04/2018 11:15

My children have been evacuated twice

Once to a local park. Once to a local school.

They are kept out of the building whilst it's searched

Ofcoarse you need to collect them!

perper · 13/04/2018 11:15

This happened a few weeks ago too. It is absolutely a hoax, and there is no way the police or schools would be risking the lives of children if they weren't absolutely certain of that. Of course they're not going to tell everyone what they know or how they know it's not a credible threat, as that would completely jeopardise their methods.

There is no reason to panic children or make them feel that a safe place like a school is a risk to them. When it happened in my school a few weeks ago (secondary) it was awful seeing 18 year olds panic because their parents sent them dramatic messages about it and what they thought they should do to stay safe.