To think it's very depressing that school children need to learn this

[Eastie77Returns]

DD's school is producing a video showing children what to do in the event there is an intruder in the school and they need to go into 'lockdown'. I found out as she has been asked to take part in the video production.She is in Y7.

DS is in Y4 and he told me they did a practice drill at his primary school where they followed the steps they needed to take in a similar situation.

Honestly it makes me feel very sad. I understand in the current climate it's necessary and in countries like the US it's standard but I never thought I'd see something like this here.

You sweet summer child.

In your rush to be sarcastic you missed the more subtle sarcasm of that post.

You could make an argument in response to my points or you can just insult me 💁🏼‍♀️. I think it’s clear why you chose the later.

As I said, it’s not “safeguarding” when there’s no evidence that the measures are relevant, proportionate, or prevent / mitigate harm. Meanwhile there is evidence that they are themselves potentially harmful. That’s the opposite of safeguarding.

Hopefully there isn’t an incident at your kids school where they’re required to hide and keep quiet. Because they’re just going to be scared and confused and loud, aren’t they. Hey shooter, can you hear the classroom full of panicking kids? Easy target.

What a strange attitude.

Hey shooter, can you hear the classroom full of panicking kids? Easy target.

What do you think the probability in the UK is of a child being shot at school?

I think schools should spend more time/ redirect their focus on educating the population about evaluating risk 🤦 and less time teaching children to hide under desks.

I had to discuss this scenario the other week with a 7tutor group. As I was trying say how unlikely it would be…..2 children in the same class said they had to lockdown in their (different) primary schools. One was for a large loose dog and the other was a burglar who was on the run with a knife! You just never know!

Hi OP, yes it is sad but necessary unfortunately. As a member of staff I have done this drill in multiple schools I’ve worked in. It’s the norm now 😔 But on the flip side, great to know what to do in such an event and to know that the children are prepared too. Have never had to use the training either. It’s important to know.

Where is the guidance for these drills coming from? Are they following any evidenced based protocol or does each school just make it up as they go along?

What was the angry dad going to do to the children and how did the lockdown drill help?

Ok, stabber, machete wielder, whatever… if it make you feel better to have your kid stabbed than shot.

Guns and bullets can be made using a 3D printer. It’s only a matter of time before one of these weapons is used.

Invacuations and lockdowns should be as common place as evacuations or fire drills. You really are naive not to understand that in this day and age.

Me too! Before that all our school doors were left open all day. Anyone could get in.

These incidents are obviously tragic but incredibly rare.

How often is there a fire at a school during the day when the children are there? Should they not do fire drill because it's 'incredibly rare'?

It’s essential.
The school my children attended was involved in a serious lockdown (not uk) but the (false) alarm was sufficient to trigger special forces storming the school, and a lockdown scenario that lasted several hours.
One of the major issues was all the children being locked in classrooms and needing the toilet . I’ve since thought most classrooms should have some sort of porta potty for such eventualities, crazy as it sounds.

It was ironic!!

Cancel the cheque.

We live in Los Angeles and my son was in a REAL lockdown when he was 6 yrs old, in his school in Santa Monica when there was a gun man on the loose who had shot a few people at the Santa Monica college. All schools went into lockdown immediately and didn't come out for 4 hours. So he was in a dark art room with his scared friends, literally hiding behind a sink for 4 hours not knowing the gunman was not on site, and not knowing if he was going to get shot or not.

I think having drills is essential here, where we live, but I'm surprised they are happening in the UK. Either way, a drill is a drill. Don't get sad about a drill, get sad about an actual shooting.

They most likely would have but it might have been called something else. Its very standard practice now along with Prevent training against radicalisation etc

My DCs went to school(s) in the US and did tornado drills, fire drills, and lockdown drills all through their school years. They experienced no cortisol related issues because the drills took place every year, predictably. You would honestly need to lead an incredibly sheltered life to have these drills affect you.

In addition to the school drills, there are municipal tornado sirens that are tested on a the first Tuesday of each month at a certain time of the morning. The sirens blast out from all the fire stations and the town hall and libraries.

We get frequent intense storms here, and the tornado sirens often go off for real, at which point we all troop down to the basement of the building and hope for the best along with all our neighbours.

I have worked in a school where there was a ‘word’, which meant the corridors were locked down (and fire alarm wouldn’t open them). The students didn’t practice and only certain teachers knew it, there was also a secret tannoy that wasn’t used, only for a major incident.

It was used once when I was there for a student who was going mad. Not to hurt anyone else but he would have hurt himself, no one could touch him so then slowly herded him out of the building.

IRA bomb threats came to my school and surrounding buildings so we had bomb and fire drills. We were also quite close to a psychiatric hospital and there was the occasional wandering patient.

It was and still is essential we know how and what to do in these events. Practice! Practice! Practice! Keeps everyone as safe as possible.

we could clear a building of over a 1000 students in minutes when real threats came in. We could also get ourselves into the school hall just as quick if we were outside the building and there was an issue.

yes the threats are different but it’s life sadly.

Oh and where I am now we have nuclear reactor meltdown practice, regular alarm tests etc. it’s part of school life in the immediate vicinity to practice Evacs for that too

yes it is sad

ds didn’t quite view it the same way and loved this day. When I picked up him and his friend they were absolutely overjoyed to have to pretend their was an intruder in their school and reenacted the drill for me when we got home a number of times

No.

It is vital to protect our children from a society that includes a wide range of people with varying degrees of mental health, radicalisation etc etc

Preparation is vital to ensure that should the worst happen, our children react appropriately just like they would during a fire drill with has been practised over and over and over again.

Fires are vastly vastly more common than intruder shootings/ stabbings in UK schools. And there is evidence that fire drills actually mitigate / prevent harm.

Again, this thread is evidence that schools need to be focusing on educating the public about risk, instead of teaching kids to hide under the desk.

@Tandora
Part of all the drills my DCs did was practicing immediate silence once the buzzer went off, and immediate full attention to the teacher and compliance with all instructions.

Therefore there would be no classes full of panicking children in the case of a fire, tornado, or armed intruder.

The point of drills is to practice exactly what will happen and exactly what everyone is supposed to do.

I agree with this, my children are 27, 21, 19 and 7 and not one of them has ever taken part in such a drill.