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

Yes, our primary and secondary in Nottinghamshire do it. We haven't ever been notified as parents. I actually only found out my kids primary did it last year when someone posted about it on here and I asked my youngest. They are told to stay in and away from the doors / windows.

One in my city had a recent lockdown situation following a reported sighting of some bloke outside it with a knife.

@GingersOwner26 Geez!!! That's terrifying!

Yes and they were doing it when ds was small and he's 25 now so it's not a new thing.

I didn’t think they did them at my DDs school as they were never mentioned, my older DDs couldn’t remember what they did 5mins before leaving school so I very rarely got told about their school day. Dd 3 tells me everything including how they all got locked in school and had to sit quietly with doors locked.

I asked the teacher and she said they’d always done them 🤷‍♀️

I believe some schools call them loose dog emergencies, they pretend there is a dog on the loose so have to get inside in case it bites someone.

@GingersOwner26 this just reminded me. Not a lockdown but all the primary schools in our area had a police presence for a couple of days last week after a report of a man acting strangely. Several local Facebook reports about him near a couple of schools. I was actually impressed the police took it seriously and turned up.

This makes no sense. Is there not a school bell? Kids round these ways are like Pavlov's dogs responding to bells, the bell rings, they line up ready to go back into school. There would be absolutely no need for a special "procedure" for this or to practice going back into school when the bell rings as they do it three times a day - morning, after break, after lunch.

This seems another of these things, like not letting children walk home from school alone until they are about 12, which every English/Welsh parent accepts as normal and doesn't happen in Scotland. Despite Dunblane.

School doors locked yes, if you want in you have to be buzzed in and sign in at office, wear a pass. Individual classroom doors - depending on school. My kids' primary school is a late 60s build, there are no doors on the classrooms at all. Secondary is a more recent build, doors can be locked.

@CharityShopChic yes many children line up at the end of play, but there’s always a dawdler or two, someone running back to pick up a jumper, someone putting games away, picking up snack tray, water bottles etc. In lockdown scenario you don’t want the hanging around in lines you want them all in asap.

At the local Primary near me they have a staggered lunchtime break so on the first bell the youngest classes go in, second bell the older ones. In a lockdown children need to know the difference and it is everyone in at the same time.

What if PE is happening outside, they need to know the lockdown bell sound that means go in, rather than all standing outside chattering wondering why the end of break bell has sounded in the middle of the lesson

Absolutely this.
If there is an intruder and, god forbid, they are armed, you just need those children in through the nearest door asap. Not lined up like sitting ducks outside each classroom door.
Its about getting them in quickly. Play time whistles at the end of lunchtime are for a more orderly operation.
It’s important that they understand the difference between those whistles. (Albeit we focus on the dog in the playground scenario rather than anything more sinister)

It's not about getting them inside as such
... it's about making sure the staff and students don't go (back) outside of the classroom.

The certain bell alerts everyone to the required actions. Get inside, get safe, stay put.

You don't want any confusion. Just like a fire drill, it's one continuous bell (or whatever) and you behave the same way whether there's an actual fire or not.

So if you had a "end of play" bell used for lockdown, people would assume it was end of play, and might then send three kids off to the library or allow them to run back to get a jumper, or let them go to the loo once they're in the classroom...any kind of scenario where they would normally be released to somewhere else.

It's obviously not something which schools in Scotland feel the need to plan for, or practice for though.

Our school has open entrances at either end so tbh anybody could wander through the playground- it used to be a common shortcut for dogwalkers.
This would probably sound appalling to those in England but kids here commonly walk to and from school from P1 - just a different way of doing things

Fire drills yes, but 20 years of teaching in a primary and have never come across this.

Well, it's not unusual.

Strange really when it was a Scottish school that had the gunman...

It's like they've forgotten and don't give a hoot.

Security was very much tightened in Scottish scools after Dunblane. . Of course they give a hoot.
Maybe they don't think it's necessary to be hiding under tables in case a "big dog is running around the playground"

It isn't a big dog....

It could mean... Gunman... Kidnapper... Speeding car ... Police on foot chasing...a dangerous person who is violent... A dangerous person who has MH issues... Oil spill... Wild animal wandering around...

That why I put it in inverted commas 🙄

Yes we're told just prior.

So why wouldn't they/you think securing the school and having a stay put drill is used?

If it's very clear that there's actually a probable danger, why wouldn't you prepare?

Noone questions a fire drill. Not one, despite the ridiculously low chance of fires in schools and those that may occur are not deadly/extreme etc.

If there was an incident and a child was injured/kidnapped - the parents would be up in arms, saying they should have had a lockdown procedure or similar.

So why do people think it's ridiculous to practice invacuation?

Fucking hell

Yes. Parents not involved. Why would they. My dd school been locked down once and she in year 4. It was due to a mum who due to her drug taking didn't have access to her DC and threatened the school...the school went into lockdown and the police were there....very impressed with the school as my dd despite they being put in the hall and taken out another way had no idea what had happened...they were told it was a fire drill. The DC of the mum were moved to an another school shortly after so the lockdown not been repeated so far. However I fully understand and support my DC school with how they dealt with it that day!

If there was an incident I'm sure the children would just be told they had to stay in their classrooms.
Don't see why it would be necessary to practise this

People being scathing about having a drill just in case of a big dog and no need for lockdowns, what do you think a school should do if an XL Bully came into the playground?

@RaraRachael how do you get them into the classrooms quickly and ensure they stay there? How do you get that message quickly to all staff?