Does your primary school have lockdowns drills?

[Frostythesnowman1]

I have twins in year 1

10 minutes before pick up we get a message to say they have carried out a lockdown drill

no warning, no context, no letting parents know how they explained it to 5 year olds so parents can do the same.

apparently they have it every year but “missed” last year so this is our first experience

Schools in the towns around Broadmoor have a lockdown policy in place in case a patient escapes.

I know it's scary OP but it's the world we live in. My eldest always thought it was a great adventure. They don't make it scary for them, I promise

No, my children’s primary school has never had a lockdown practice 😵‍💫 I have a child on year 6 and one in year 2!

Yes and needed to use it twice. Once when someone was evading the police and jumped into the field (pre my time) and once just after pick up (so lockdown of after school clubs and other clubs) when the father stabbed his wife/mother to death at the bus stop just by the school and they were afraid he was going to come and try and get the children. Police were there for awhile with that one - it was awful

Yes. I found out from my daughter. The school isn’t open about it. It makes sense because we live in an area with a lot of knife crime and also a lot of industrial/chemical plants nearby, so could potentially be useful.

Yes. They use dog in the playground scenario.

But of course this could be a reality if an XL Bully got into the playground.

Our local schools have different lockdown drills, so only the most serious would be a hide under the desk scenario eg not necessary if swarm of bees or chemical spillage, that would be a stay inside and close windows and doors.

You may get told that a drill takes place but the actual policy may not be shared as would not want that in the hands of certain people

Ours doesnt but we live in a very safe area.

I’ve spoken to the teacher who was lovely. She said the children were told yesterday that they would be having a practice, not that the kids mentioned it 😂 they weren’t traumatised at all and actually thought it was a hoot. In fact one of my girls asked if we needed to have a lockdown drill at home

I understand everything that’s been said, but as we’ve not experienced this and had no idea it was done on a yearly basis (albeit missed last year) a bit of warning would have been appreciated - but before everyone jumps on I know they don’t have to let parents know.

We also live in an extremely safe area (any violence is front page news) and we've had lockdown drills. They framed it as an animal being in the yard. It was quite heart-wrenching to hear DD describe how they had to stay away from the windows and be as quiet as possible.

@Frostythesnowman1 in my experience the parents get more upset/agitated by these drills than the children do. I assume you don’t want a heads up before a fire drill. Children take them in their stride even when it’s a real one and not a drill.

One local school initiated one as a child became seriously disregulated and started to damage property in the playground so all other children were kept inside. Some parents were beside themselves when they heard there had been a lockdown and unfortunately showed their upset in front of their DC. Whereas the DC hadn’t been bothered up until that point.

We've just had one. I was in EYFS and the children were told what was going to happen and where we were going to go and that it was a practice for if there was something like a dog loose in the playground.

At DD’s school they said it was practice for if something happened like the church next door was on fire or if the air ambulance had to land on the playground! Which at least made it seem a bit exciting rather than scary.

The school I work at does, it’s an inner city school so I suppose more likely to need a lockdown

a bit of warning would have been appreciated

Not jumping on you but in my experience parents will tell their children all kinds of things if they get a warning making the situation seem much much more scary. Hence why they don't tend to warn the parents to prevent turning it into a big drama where one is not needed.

The majority of actual lockdowns in school in England probably don’t involve some armed person coming on site, they are probably much more innocuous like bee swarm, chemical spillage, cow in the playground so doesn’t really matter what area of the country you are in and whether it is ‘safe’

And marauding dads.

I just asked my daughter who is in reception. She said they play hide and find every week and the whole class has to hide. I can't quite work out if this is a game or a drill though!

It's been a thing for decades. I'd be very concerned if a school wasn't doing them! I've never been a pupil at, or taught at a school that didn't.

I'm sure the parents in Dunblane said the same thing about their town.

@WalkingonWheels I would be questioning my school why they didn’t do them if they didn’t

Never heard of this. It makes sense I guess but equally it would cause my ASC 6 year old a lot of anxiety so I would want to be able to talk to him about it in advance, even if he didn’t know exactly when it was going to happen.

I think the recommendation is that schools “should” do it which is usually interpreted as do it unless we have a good reason not to.

Yes, and our school triggered it as a massive swarm of bees landed in the tree that is in the entrance of the playground. Didn't call it a lockdown- I can't remember what they called it; maybe a safety shutdown? Kids loved it.

Not jumping on you but in my experience parents will tell their children all kinds of things if they get a warning making the situation seem much much more scary. Hence why they don't tend to warn the parents to prevent turning it into a big drama where one is not needed.

I think a lot of parents would be surprised at just how capable children are at school compared to at home. Carrying lunch trays and doing up their own zips and all that jazz.

They really don't