Or is this inappropriate for a summer camp?

[Herewegoagain84]

My five year old has been going for a few days here and there over the summer to a day camp based at a school - well known company - seems to really enjoy it. This morning she mentioned that a few days ago they did “lockdown training” and she had to hide under a desk. She has been asking questions about what a lockdown is etc. We are in London.

Considering I don’t think this has been introduced in schools / we don’t have the same record as the US in this country, AIBU that this was an inappropriate “activity” to do with a group of five year olds? I want to call them to discuss it, as if they planned this I think it should have been brought to the attention of parents. If they did it as a game, I think that’s even weirder?

...but you couldn't use a tannoy in the case of an intruder intending harm!

Yes I know which is why I didn't mention it previously. Like I said no schools here (my area if Scotland) have lockdown alarms or drills. Other Scottish people on this post have commented to say the same thing

To be fair it's not something schools have to do on a compulsory level, it's only recommended but I would have thought Scottish schools would have been more at the forefront. Dunblaine had a profound effect on my as a young adult.

Ours do and have had to very sadly utilise it

In the event of an intruder, we have an alarm and all staff have radios which communicate the initial call. These are then silenced and any necessary communication happens through the school staff WhatsApp group via staff phones in order to avoid the intruder being aware of what is being said.

That sounds very similar to the school I worked in. I work in a different environment now so we don't have radios but a WhatsApp group and notifications on our site application.

Thanks for this and good to know - it was a different company but same idea!

This

I Understand your perspectives op,
Which is better fully trained people, or panic mode ?

Our school also does them once a term.

My son (yr2) has this at school - in case a ‘big dog’ is in the playground - but agree v much overkill for a summer camp!

I get them being done during normal school time, but I think it's over the top for a summer school.

In July 2011, self-professed white supremacist Anders Behring Breivik carried out a mass shooting at a summer youth camp in Norway on the tranquil, wooded island of Utoya, northwest of Oslo, killing 69 campers and staff. Breivik attacked the camp on the same day he detonated a car bomb at a government building in Oslo, killing eight people.

It can happen in the least expected of places. I'd be happy with a summer camp taking the same precautions as a school when it comes to safety.

Dunblane was 26 years ago. There hasn’t been a school shooting in the UK since. I’m in Scotland and I’ve never heard of lockdown drills happening here. I agree with the PP who said the time would be better spent on road safety. Water safety too. Far more drownings than shootings here. If anything happened that required children to stay indoors I trust teachers to manage that without having to do drills before hand.

Yes it is a thing. All school.staff know what to do in a lockown emergency after the Manchester arena bombings although I dint think its routinely practised with the children in the way a fire drill is.

We did 'what to do in the event the US and Russia attack each other with nukes' at school at age 4 which involved hiding under a desk I've survived.

It had a profound effect on me too. And on many people in Scotland and beyond. But it was one incident in one school and 26 years have passed without another. The gun controls that were introduced afterwards seem a more appropriate response than drills in every school.

Primary school do at least 3 different scenario "lockdowns" with door locking, covering the long vertical window in the door and shutting blinds. The children all sit down against a wall. Then there are the ones where we evacuate the building due to the building being unsafe ie gas leak where the children all gather on the school field. Then we have one where we stay inside in case of a chemical spill or the usual dog loose in the playground.

I know the thought is to go to unhinged knife wielding criminal but we have had police on site due to a Dad being blocked from seeing their child (violence) and had threatened staff at school. The police were on the doors every time we had an assembly so someone in that year group was the vulnerable child.

The lockdowns are different fire alarms, a bell ring like start of the school day or a hand bell if there is a chance of an explosion.

@RedHelenB I’ve worked in two schools since the Manchester attack, and nothing about emergency procedures in such an event has ever been said.

Our primary school does it too. The kids get told it's in case a dangerous dog is loose in the school and they love it.

It had a profound effect on me too. And on many people in Scotland and beyond. But it was one incident in one school and 26 years have passed without another. The gun controls that were introduced afterwards seem a more appropriate response than drills in every school.

Yes that and the fact you can no longer simply walk in to a school. You have to have a fob or be let in. It was truly tragic but it has never happen for and never happened again. I fail to see why it's just as important as a fire alarm. Minor fires that require children to evacuate are not especially rare. It seems anyway that lockdown procedures are being used totally unnecessarily- foxes in playgrounds etc.

Then we have one where we stay inside in case of a chemical spill or the usual dog loose in the playground.

You really need a drill for that though? We had a situation a few weeks back where there was a distressed deer trapped in the playground. In order to prevent scaring it further while waiting for the sspca we closed the blinds and told dc to stay away from the widows and for on with our day.

@liveforsummer We get foxes in our garden all the time. We don’t go inside and lock the doors and, amazingly, they’ve never attacked us! The fox thing can’t be for real, surely?!

In Scotland too. Never heard of this either.

Having an invacuation or a lockdown doesn't mean that you don't get on with your day. It depends what type of lockdown it is which depends on the potential threat. Having staff and children who are prepared and so able to respond appropriately and calmly to a range of different situations is a positive thing.

Those posters saying they are not needed in the UK - I'm sorry, but you are wrong.

Lockdown training is needed in the event that someone makes their way into a school with intent to harm. I know of local schools who have gone into lockdown because a student from another school was believed to have gained access into school with a knife looking for a student. In another case it was an estranged parent looking for a child.

Don't assume that all schools are impossible to enter - they are not. Even with fobs and locked outside doors there is always the risk of an intruder getting in. Schools are far, far more secure than they used to be, but theses drills are conducted in the unlikely event that they nay be neccessary one day. If done correctly and sensibly they are no more scary for the children than a fire drill.