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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Dangerous person in school?

405 replies

WhinnieThePoohHead · 15/01/2023 15:53

I’ll preface this by saying I know it’s not a AIBU, I just want to use the voting option :)

Met Friends for dinner today. One friend, a teacher, mentioned that her school does ‘lockdown drills’ as well as fire drills. I asked what they’re for and she said in case someone dangerous gets into the primary school. They lock the classroom door, shut the blinds, turn the lights and screens off and hide under their desks silently. My friend told me that all schools do these drills the same way they do fire drills. this is in the U.K.

YABU- yes all schools do this, you’re out of touch
YANBU- schools in the U.K. don’t do lock down drills

OP posts:
Spendonsend · 15/01/2023 16:04

We dont go under the tables but move the children away from doors and windows to hear a story. Its not just gun men. My sons school had a man on drugs running round the playground naked, my friends school had a very angry estranged father causing a scene. We are near a potential chemical spill source too so it covers that.

LadyPenelope68 · 15/01/2023 16:04

All schools (secondary and primary) must have a lockdown procedure as part of their legal policies. I’m a Primary Teacher and we’ve had a practice, just like we have a fire practice.

timeforachangeofseason · 15/01/2023 16:05

We do dog in the playground drill. No hiding under tables though. Just windows shut and door locked.

HobnobsChoice · 15/01/2023 16:06

It's called invacation and it's not mandatory for schools to have a policy or drill for it but is recommended. It covers everything from a dangerous substance leak (eg close all windows, get all staff and students inside and try to continue lessons while awaiting further info), a loose dangerous dog or a dangerous person in the area through to a potential threat against the school. Some schools have done drills for years (Jewish schools usually) others have added then more recently. I know a couple of schools which have had to go into lockdown, once where a gun threat against the school was mad, a hoax as it turned out. Another there was a man in the area with a knife. In the first students had to take cover/lights off /classroom doors locked etc. In the other the children were just kept in the school building and no visitors allowed in until police deemed the risk over.

Not every school is drilling on this though.

x2boys · 15/01/2023 16:06

Ill.have.to.ask.my son as he's never mentioned they have donr.this in either primary or secondary school,and he's in year 11 now so only a few months left
how would somebody dangerous get,in? I thought after the Dunblane tragedy ,schools were much more security conscious ,I have always had to be let in in both schools each of my boys have attended

DrMadelineMaxwell · 15/01/2023 16:08

We practice lockdowns. Not hiding under the desks though, but ones for when noone can be outside for whatever reason - we are by farmlands so say it is in case of a runaway horse or a stray dog. And others were it's all locked in and out of sight of windows.

We've had a few real reasons to need to quickly get all the children in. One occasion the air ambulance needed to land on our school field to get to an accident in the village. And on another there was a police car chase in the area and it was in case they bailed from the car and ended up running through the school grounds.

PuttingDownRoots · 15/01/2023 16:08

Its not something DDs have mentioned. But they have also never mentioned fire drill!

They did earthquake drill at the school in an earthquake zone (not UK) but the one earthquake they experienced was at a weekend and they barely noticed.

When I was working at a secondary school 15 years ago we had lockdown drills though. They aren't new. It was partly for fights between pupils.

HRTQueen · 15/01/2023 16:08

Yes they do it in ds school (y10)

he loves the drama of it so do his friends the like to see themselves as tough and ready for action 🙄 😆

Quartz2208 · 15/01/2023 16:09

Yep it is fairly normal and should be done. DD High School did one on Friday. DS Primary does as well. And needed to once (a school mum was murder on the school run and they shut down the school as they were not sure if he would come in and try to grab the children). Most had gone home but those who were on clubs/ASC did

Whyarewehardofthinking · 15/01/2023 16:11

We do invacuation training, and others have said it is more to do with a dangerous situation nearby. We are city centre, so we have had guns and machetes within a few metres of the building (not that the students know unless it is in the media) as well as police chases etc. We've also used them for unhinged parents smashing their way into the main part of the building (that does also happen to, usually to go and beat the shit out of a student or a teacher who has slighted their own child).

Nowhereelsetogo90 · 15/01/2023 16:11

I’m a UK teacher and we don’t. Maybe depends on local authority.

poetrylover · 15/01/2023 16:11

I work in a through school. The seniors have been doing these drills for several years now.

DipmeinChoc · 15/01/2023 16:12

DDs high school does them every term. Last year they had threats on a few occasions and the police took them very seriously, the kids had to stay in lockdown whilst the police helicopter was hovering until the threats were dismissed as hoaxes.

HavfrueDenizKisi · 15/01/2023 16:13

Yes all schools do this. My DDs most definitely did in primary school. Not so sure about secondary but I think so.

MrsHamlet · 15/01/2023 16:13

MrsSchrute · 15/01/2023 15:55

Yes, all schools in the UK do this, or at least should do this, at least once a year.

We don't.

TheGuv1982 · 15/01/2023 16:14

primeoflife · 15/01/2023 15:55

Your children may not realise it's happening.

Show quote history

That wouldn’t not be in the least bit surprising…on many levels

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 15/01/2023 16:14

We never did, but we used to do bomb drills as well as fire drills (different bell, and you opened all windows and doors and took your bags).

LIZS · 15/01/2023 16:15

Dc school did it.

gravyriceandchips · 15/01/2023 16:15

My DD's school has never done this. My mum works there and either one would have told me.

mickandrorty · 15/01/2023 16:16

our primary school does, its covered up by them saying 'its what we do if a wild animal is loose in the school' they are taught to hide up and be quiet.

ofwarren · 15/01/2023 16:17

It's called "dog in the playground" here too. It actually got used once when a cow got in a local school 🤣
But yes, it's a drill in case a bad person comes into the school primarily.

SockQueen · 15/01/2023 16:18

My DS's primary does - I only found out by accident when I arrived in the middle of a drill
(DS had forgotten his lunchbox so I was bringing it up to the office mid-morning) It was eerie!

DS wouldn't have bothered to mention it if I hadn't asked though.

Wakemeuuuup · 15/01/2023 16:18

My kid's did this in primary and secondary. I remember one of them coming home and saying they fell asleep during one of them in secondary school, they found it very relaxing

Mylobsterteapot · 15/01/2023 16:19

We have done them in all the schools I’ve worked in in the last 9 years. Only needed it for real once - there was a cow on the playground (rural school problems!)

Wakemeuuuup · 15/01/2023 16:19

Kids not kid's