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

Dd is in y6 and I think she’s mentioned this once but I think it was done as dog in the playground as others have mentioned. I don’t think schools do it enough tbh. I was a high school teacher for 13 years and I have never seem a lockdown drill

Yes these drills are yearly in primary schools. A bull ran loose in a primary school near me and thankfully the school went into very quick lockdown, though it was at the start of the school day. The bull had to be shot dead it was so out of control. Scary stuff.

I've been part of fire drills in secondary school and I'm always amazed at how well the pupils do.

Never heard of this in my puff. Also Scottish.

@HairOfFineStraw then they would close the blinds

Yes. My DD did in primary school. It’s definitely a norm for this generation as I don’t remember them at school

Our school doesn't. We are very rural, and sometimes get sheep on the school field. Once a baby deer got into the school building through an open fire door!

Yep, I work in a Primary School. We have an invacuation drill later on this week. We had fire drills last week.

I have never heard of it either. I'm intrigued though, surely if you're at risk of an attack by a dog getting under your desk is no help at all?

@Only2WeeksToGo most schools have different levels of lockdown/invacuation so only in the most serious scenario will children hide under the desks, other scenarios will just be getting children indoors into their classroom, sometimes closing blinds and sitting quietly. Drills may not include sitting under desks

That’s just what they tell the kids!! Madman with an axe might worry them a bit.

The most common use for mild lockdown is aggressive parents, or teen students at High School kicking off. The alarm keeps everyone out the way so appropriate staff can deal with the situation.

well - the point it it could be for any reason and the point of the drill is to make sure people do the same thing every time. You don't want to have different procedures. Nor do you want to have to say what the issue is at the time.

Just like when the fire alarm goes off they don't go "It's a toaster in the staff room - Drill A" or "fire in a lift - Drill B" or "Fire in the kitchen - Drill C... no wait it's spread... Drill D" - nope. you hear the alarm, you know exactly what to do - "get up, shut up, walk to place"

The air ambulance or RAF helicopter landed frequently in our school playing field. Nobody gave it a second glance

Well, I'm sure they didn't, because it was a common sight... But what's that got to do with the need for lock down?

The school still needs to make sure there's no kids in the field etc

A primary local to me had an actual lock down situation a few weeks ago when a man managed to enter the school buildings. I never knew it was a 'thing' in the UK but its an excellent idea.

@fanaticalfairy lockdown can simply mean getting all the children inside at the same time, an invacuation rather than evacuation.

Yes, I know.

Someone upthread mentioned something about an air ambulance landing near a school. i was just sharing my experience.

Yes

No. Fire drills they do have.

Our primary does it in the Christmas term each school year, doors get locked and the kids have to practice hiding under their desks. Parents were notified of the invacuation practice that afternoon after it happened, not before.

A recent air ambulance landing was the example given to my DCs when the drills were launched a few years ago.

I remember that one, it looked like it was going to land in my garden and barely cleared the house.

I had them whilst working in daycares. Absolute nightmare as the protocol was popping all the babies into one cot and wheeling them into the designated room/outsode depending on if lockdown drill or fire drill.

It was needed once as a father who was banned from seeing his child turned up with the intent of kidnapping him.

These practises are necessary and the older kids think it's all a bit of fun. (babies weren't enthused).

YABU to expect to be notified. You should just expect it to be happening.

The Dunblane shooting happened 28 years ago. The UK (rightly) reacted by imposing major gun control laws rather than teaching kids how to hide under desks. It worked. There hasn't been a school shooting in this country since.

@dragonfliesandbees knives seem to be the weapon of choice now