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

[DiplomaticDecorum]

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

Our schools had this recently. In most cases the parents were asked to collect their children. I would, but in the assumed knowledge it was most likely a hoax. Bombers tend not to give warnings any more and I'd be more concerned about access to handheld firearms by a person with some kind of grudge.

The reality is that this is probably a sad teenager sat at home on their computer, which the police have been monitoring, with the full knowledge that they've sent false emails and have never been to the areas or had any communication with anyone else about it.

The reality is that this is probably a sad teenager sat at home on their computer, which the police have been monitoring, with the full knowledge that they've sent false emails and have never been to the areas or had any communication with anyone else about it.

This is pretty much as I see it (almost, there's always that small fear when you push it), however more and more local schools are saying that pupils can be collected if you're concerned.

I don't think it's nationwide. Heard nothing about any of it in my area, DS is at school at the moment.

I don't understand the comparison with crossing the road, going to London etc. Yes these things carry risk, and higher risks of a uk school being bombed. However, when a threat is issuers the risk is elevated and becomes higher than that of crossing the road. The biggest problem I see with treating threats as hoaxes and not evacuating, is complacency. Today may be a hoax, next week may be a hoax, next month may be a hoax, but the threat in 6 months time, that one may be real. Meanwhile we are all so relaxed about it, no one is safe.

We had this last month. I didn't become aware till it was over - they told us via email. So I didn't pick dd up. It's happened a couple of times now over the years so no I probably wouldn't go and demand to pick her up if they hadn't told us to.

My friends east yorkshire school has closed and sent the children home xx

We're in East Riding and have collected dd, however this bomb threat is a hoax and it's from the USA, it was sent out to some schools before easter, I knew it would be this as soon as we got the urgent must collect now email from school. I read the hoax email online when it first happened, the syntax clearly shows it originates from the USA. So knowing this has happened recently I'd be happy to have left her, however if it just came out the blue, then no I'd be collecting straight away.

I would base it on what the school have advised you to do.

The police won't just be sitting back thinking "meh, its a hoax, do nothing," rather they will be doing a lot more behind the scenes, before, during and after today's incidents. It just isn't public knowledge. They base their decision on whether something is credible or not based on many many factors.

@italiancortado

You referred to my post and said:
I don't understand the comparison with crossing the road, going to London etc. Yes these things carry risk, and higher risks of a uk school being bombed. However, when a threat is issuers the risk is elevated and becomes higher than that of crossing the road. The biggest problem I see with treating threats as hoaxes and not evacuating, is complacency. Today may be a hoax, next week may be a hoax, next month may be a hoax, but the threat in 6 months time, that one may be real. Meanwhile we are all so relaxed about it, no one is safe.

We're just assessing risk differently. I think the risk, even with a phone call, of anything actually happening at a school is vanishingly low. The risk of some fool going through a red light at the pedestrian crossing on the way to school is quite high, I see it happen most weeks.

There was a bomb scare at a school I know a couple of years ago. Parents were advised not to pick up their children. Some, however, did so - they lived VERY locally - and then allowed their children to play out in the street right next to the school building. I couldn't understand why they thought this was safer than being in a school where procedures were in place and were being followed.

It happened at my siblings’ schools a few weeks except we got the one where they were threatening to drive into/shoot children at the end of the school day. We left them in as the schools had been placed on lockdown, police were on site, teachers were blocking exits and we knew it was highly likely to be a hoax as the text from the school said as much

Missing a single day of school isn't going to do any harm is it?

But it probably wouldn't be missing a single day of school. What if the hoax is sent again on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ... After all, it's not as if enterprising children haven't found ways to bunk off school since school were invented, is it?

If any of the current usual suspects wanted to bomb a school, do you seriously think they'd send a warning? It isn't their normal practice - and if they do their thinking is usually that it's a great way to increase their victim count by virtue of all those parents rushing to the school.

I’d Leave my kids in school if reliably informed it’s hoax, no point dashing out of work for it

Both my DC's schools had a bomb hoax sent before Easter. They were evacuated to a local church. I was aware as it was happening, purely because I happened to see the school being evacuated and the police presence. Parents weren't officially informed until the school had been checked and children were safely back in class.

I'll admit, I was panicking at first. Mainly as I was worried that my DC would be scared but also, in the back of my mind I did think for a second "what if?".

Once I saw on twitter it was nationwide I felt better about it, angry at the idiots who thought it'd be funny to threaten kids with bombs!

Missing a single day of school isn't going to do any harm is it?

It would have been about a day a term at my old school. It was a favoured method of disrupting class, second only after setting off the fire alarms.

It's all very well saying you'd collect your child immediately- but for those of us at work, it really isn't an option. We have to trust the school to keep them safe and do the right thing.

To be honest I would rather keep my child off school for a bomb scare than a snow day so in answer to your OP, I would keep my children at home if there was a bomb scare at the school.

There was a call at my work place many years ago, I took the call and the caller said "theres a bomb in the bin" this was a pharmaceutical company with laboratory's with mice used for testing drugs, the threat was supposedly from an animal activist so was taken seriously and all 400 employee were sent home, I would see my DC safety in the same way and as a precaution keep them home.

I taught at a school that had about eighteen bomb threats in three weeks. The first day we closed. After that we waited for the police and remained opened. The kids all stayed.

The Police and Fire Service are careful and check everywhere. If they say it's a hoax. It's a hoax. One of the calls we received told the reception he'd put a bomb in her filing cabinet. She could clearly see he hadn't but had to raise the alarm anyway.

I understand it's concerning but schools wouldn't remain open if there was a genuine threat. We have our children's safety as top priority at all times

The thing is, terrorists who plan terrorist attacks now don't give warnings do they?

Think about it logically. It would be fairly difficult to get a bomb in a school without any knowledge of the school that there were intruders etc. Lets say 1/20 chance. To manage to do this in say 10 schools it's (1/20)10 chance is approximately 1 x 10-13. That's 0.00000000000001% chance of success.

And then going into why would they go to that risk and then say that they've done it?
Then let's assume they have set a timed bomb to go off. They've told the school. If they want to actually set a bomb off they want to hurt the children, not just cause disruption so I doubt they'd give long between warning and it going off. Chances are not long enough for it to get out to the news/school to contact you and then you get down there.

So the school is trying to move the children out of the way when it goes off. Parents are turning up to get the children. Cars are blocking the way of emergency vehicles. Parents are grabbing children and taking them away without telling anyone. It's going to make things worse. You might be able to find your child is safe and whisk them away-at the expense of delaying the emergency services and another child having the urgent medical attention they need delayed.

We had this a couple of weeks ago. We were advised to leave the children at school so that's what I did. All was fine.

It would have been about a day a term at my old school. It was a favoured method of disrupting class, second only after setting off the fire alarms.

This. Vivid memories of having to go stand outside while the school was searched on multiple occasions in the 1980's. I wouldn't collect my DC if the authorities had assured that it was a hoax.

Then again if the authorities hadn't been able to assure it was a hoax the school likely wouldn't remain open, so I'd be collecting them anyway.

If the police have determined it is a hoax and the school have advised not to collect your children then you are putting them at MORE harm if you go to school demand they are allowed out.

Are you going to drag your child out of class saying, "run, you about to be blown up". You will scare the wits out of the children!
What if a terrorist is outside the school and wanting all the children to come out, so they are easier targets?
By taking them out you are encouraging more hoaxes, will you take them out every week?

The safest place for them is in the school.

Witched the last threat was that a car would mow down children at 3.15